
Qass. 
Book. 



,H • 



i"/ 



/ 



THE 



/3 ^ ^^ ^ 



STATESMEN OE AMERICA 



IN 



18 4 6. 



BY 



SARAH MYTTON MAURY. 



" Veritas et Justitia hos reddunt Honores.' 



PHILADELPHIA: 
CAREY AND HART. 

1847. 









C. SHERMAN, PRINTER, 
19 St. Jnmes Street. 



CONTENTS. 



The President and People of the United States 

James Buchanan --.... 

William Henry Seward .... 

William H. Haywood - - - 

Hugh White -..-.. 

John Y. Mason ...... 

Abbott Lawrence ..... 

Thomas H. Benton ...... 

Samuel D. Hubbard ..... 

Martin Van Buren - - 

Robert C. Winthrop ..... 

Roger B. Taney ...... 

John M'Lean - - . . - - 

Daniel Webster and Rufus Choate . . . 

Edward A. Hannegan ..... 

John Quincy Adams - - . 

Albert Gallatin ...... 

Oregon and Canada, Remarks on - 

Charles Jared IngersoU ..... 

Edmund P. Gaines ...... 

Matthew Fontaine Maury . . . '. 

John Caldwell Calhoun . . . . . 

Henry Clay ...... 

Right Rev. John Hughes, Catholic Bishop of New York 
Note on the Corps Diplomatique at Washington 
Essay on Free Trade, by the Authoress - 
The Catholic Church in Oregon ... 

Notes on the Mexican War - . . . 



PAGE. 

17 

21 

31 

46 

:53 

54 

55 

59 

66 

67 

79 

87 

89 

98 

117 

125 

136 

150 

155 

166 

167 

168 

202 

228 

251 

252 

257 

258 



TO THE HONOURABLE 

JAMES BUCHANAN, 

SECRETARY OF STATE, 
at washington. 

My dear Sir, 

At length 1 have the pleasure of presenting to your 
acceptance the " Statesmen of America in 1846." They 
will be succeeded by the " Opinions of an Englishwoman 
ON America."* — Both of these works are indebted to your 
suggestion for their origin ; and for the privilege of being 
inscribed with a name so distinguished as that of James 
Buchanan. 

I have been anxious that the " Statesmen" should appear 
in Washington during the Session of Congress in 1847 ; 
presuming that most of my friends will be there again 
assembled. Should the Portraits be pronounced good like- 
nesses, I shall be proud and happy ; and even should they 
be found but faint in their resemblance, the attempt itself 
to delineate them will prove to the valued originals how 

* Will be reprinted by Carey and Hart uniform with the present volume. 



yj PREFACE. 

deeply engraven on my memory are their names and fea- 
tures. 

The Journals announce a change in the political aspect 
of the country. It appears to me, however, that the Whig 
elections in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and especially in the Dic- 
tator State of New York, have arisen out of questions 
purely local, and affecting those sections alone. The actual 
true majorities in the United States will ever be vested in the 
Democratic ranks ; naturally and invariably the dominant 
party in a Republic. It must be so ; — though incidental 
circumstances would sometimes cause it to appear other- 
wise. I anticipate that the Americans will make a Demo- 
cratic President in 1848; and, perhaps, a moderate or a 
Democratic Whig in 1852. 

But I will cease to interrupt you with my English fire- 
side lucubrations ; though I indulge in them frequently for 
the sake of recalling my pleasant residence at Washington, 
in the midst of its frank and social circles. I trust to be 
remembered, and sometimes to be wished for by many of 
the actors in those briUiant scenes, which their kindness 
rendered to me so fascinating. 

Will you, my dear Mr. Buchanan, present to our mutual 
friends, in the name of my husband, his most grateful ac- 
knowledgments for the hospitality and protection accorded 
to his Wife and Son by his faithful and generous country- 
men ; — and in my name, will you add, that I anticipate 
with delight the time when I shall return again to be among 
them. England is my birthplace, and as such is dear ; she 
is the nursery of my earliest and tenderest affections, and 
as such her name is sweet ; — 



PREFACE. vii 

" Here my Father's house was reared ; 
Here my Mother's voice was heard ; 
Here my infant children played 
Beneath the oak's wide-spreading shade." 

But, in all the essential advantages of life, America is her 
superior ; and these I wish to seek for my Sons' and for 
my Daughters' sake. 

You have promised me a welcome ; and well you know 
the value of the boon you offer. The Americans have 
already given me a place in their' homes and in their hearts 
and soon I shall come to claim it ; — until then and always, 
I remain, 

My dear Sir, 

Your faithful Servant, 

And affectionate Friend, 

SARAH MYTTON MAURY. 

Liverpool, 31st December, 1846. 
Anniversary of the Day I arrived in Washington. 



THE 



STATESMEN OF AMERICA. 



THE PRESIDENT AND PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The first time I saw the President was on the first of 
January, 184G, the morning after the arrival of myself and 
my son (the Doctor), at Washington. On New Year's day 
it is the privilege of every American and his family to pay 
their respects to the Chief Magistrate of the country, at the 
White House. Wishing to see this republican ceremony, 
so unlike any custom of Europe, we repaired to the resi- 
dence of the President about one o'clock, and not having 
had time to deliver any of our letters of introduction, we , 
went alone. The crowd was immense, but perfectly well 
conducted ; no pushing forward, no murmuring, no jostling; 
each was solicitous to avoid, if possible, annoying his or her 
neighbor, and anxiously apologised if such an accident hap- 
pened ; all were neatly dressed, many of the female portion 
with much elegance, and the men carried their hats high up ^ 
above their heads to keep them out of the way. I have been 
in all sorts of crowds, in England and France ; at theatres, 
operas, churches, balls, routs, elections, and ceremonies of 
various kinds, both public and private, but I have never seen i 
any assemblage of persons so orderly, respectful, patient, and [ 
well mannered as the American people on that day. The 
Democracy behaved like a lady. 

The President stood in the reception room, and Mrs. Polk 
at a little distance ; they received their guests as they were 
able to approach ; the greeting was friendly and courteous on 
the one side, and respectful and kind on the other. My son 
and myself approached with the rest, and I simply introduced 
myself as an English lady, without even mentioning my 
name. " I am delighted, madam, to see you here," said the 
President, shaking me cordially by the hand. I then intro- 
duced my son, saying that I should hope to see the President 
again. "At all times, madam, you will be most welcome." 
2 



18 THE PRESIDENT AND PEOPLE 

And he has faithfully kept this encouraging promise ; in pub- 
lic and in private I have ever received from him and from 
Mrs. Polk the utmost kindness and consideration. 

This was my first introduction in Washington, and at this 
time, it must be remembered that the United States were at 
variance, and might soon be at war, with Great Britain. 
" — '• Nor should it be omitted that the Americans, a high-minded 
and sensitive people, jealous of their honour, have been the 
subjects of vulgar and ignorant remark by English travellers. 
But these circumstances never seemed to recur to their recol- 
lection ; or rather they appeared additional reasons why ihey 
should extend to me a more than ordinary share of courtesy 
and hospitality. I was a stranger, a woman, and an invalid ; — 
this was enough for them. In my various interviews with 
the President he was ever cautious of making any remark 
which might even by inference give me pain, and he treated 
my feelings with respect as one devoted to the interests of 
my country, but as regarding America with every hallowed 
sentiment of gratitude, admiration and love. And this con- 
<-' sideration for my position as an Englishwoman, was uni- 
" versal throughout the Union. 

The Honourable James Knox Polk entered upon the 
office of President of the United States on the 4th of March, 
1845. He is a native of North Carolina, and was born on 
the 2d of November, 1795. His father, who was a farmer, 
removed to Tennessee in 1806, and in this state Mr. Polk 
continues to reside. The ancestors of this family, in common 
with those of many of our distinguished men, emigrated from 
Ireland. He received his professional education in the Uni- 
versity of North Carolina, and was distinguished for his great 
assiduity and success, particularly in the study of mathe- 
matics. In 1820 Mr. Polk was admitted to the bar, com- 
mencing his career in Maury county. In 1825 he was chosen 
to represent his district in Congress, and in 1835 he was 
elected speaker of the House of Representatives. 
\~ The President is of low stature ; his address is mild and 
perfectly unassuming, and the tones of his voice are gentle 
and agreeable ; his forehead is broad and high ; his eyes well 
set, of dark gray, and the mouth is expressive of much firm- 
ness. I should think that he is habitually grave and thought- 
ful, for though I have often seen him smile, I have never 
seen him indulge in laughter. The President refuses a favour 
more kindly than any one I have ever heard perform that 
most ungracious duty of one in power. I was, on one occa- 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 19 

sion, present when a gentleman pressed very hard for an 
answer to an application for a consulship. The President 
said that he had not had time to examine the list of candi- 
dates; that it was a very long one, and that for the moment 
he M^as wholly unable to give any reply. The gentleman had 
the bad taste to reiterate his request ; three times the President 
repeated his original words, and always with forbearance 
and patience. The art of conferring a favour is as difhcult 
as the art of refusing it; but the sagacity and good feeling 
which called into active service Slidell M'Kenzie and the 
veteran Major General Gaines, are proofs that the President 
understands the one as well as the other. 

Mr. Polk is attached to the Presbyterian church; but his 
sympathies extend to all denominations, and during my re- 
sidence in Washington he attended the Roman Catholic chapel, 
when, I believe, a sermon for the relief of the Irish poor was 
preached. I have understood that his attendance at church 
is strict and constant, and in every relation of private life he 
is exemplary and well beloved. 

Though the individual reign of the President is limited by 
the constitution of the country to a certain term of years, no 
dynasty among the sovereigns of the earth holds tenure on 
more immutable grounds than the Presidents of America. 



OPINIONS OF COLONEL POLK. 

The following are extracted from Governor Folk's Inaugu- 
ral Address, delivered at Nashville, on the iith of Octo- 
ber, 1839, in presence of the two Houses of the 'Genera! 
Assembly : 

UNITED STATES BANK. 

" The federal government has at different times assumed 
or attempted to exercise powers which, in my judgment, 
have not been conferred upon that government by the com- 
pact. Among these I am free to declare my solemn convic- 
tion that the federal government possesses no constitutional 
power to incorporate a national bank. The advocates of a 
bank insist that it would be convenient and expedient, and 
that it would promote the ' general welfare ;' but they have, 
in my judgment, failed to show that the power to create it is 
either expressly granted, or that it is an incident to any 



20 THE PRESIDENT AND PEOPLE 

express power that is ^necessary and proper'' to carry that 
power into effect. The alarming dangers of the power of 
such a corporation (vast and irresponsible as experience has 
shown it to be) to the public liberty, it does not fall within 
the scope of my present purpose fully to examine. We have 
seen the power of associated wealth in the late Bank of the 
United States, wrestling with a giant's strength with the go- 
vernment itself — and although finally overthrown, it was not 
until after a long and doubtful contest. During the struggle, 
it manifested a power for mischief which it would be dan- 
gerous to permit to exist in a free country. The panic and 
alarm, the distress and extensive suffering which, in its con- 
vulsive struggle to perpetuate its power, it inflicted on the 
country, will not soon be forgotten. Its notorious alliance 
with leading politicians, and its open interference, by means 
of the corrupting power of money, in the political contests 
of the times, had converted it into a political engine, used to 
control elections and the course of public affairs. No re- 
straints of law could prevent any similar institution from 
being the willing instrument used for similar purposes. The 
state of Tennessee, through her legislature, has repeatedly 
declared her settled opinions against the existence of such 
an institution, and at no time in its favour. She has in- 
structed her senators and requested her representatives in 
Congress to vote against the establishment of such an insti- 
tution. In these opinions, heretofore expressed by the state, 
I entirely concur." 

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY. 

" It becomes the duty of all the states, and especially of 
those whose constitutions recognize the existence of domestic 
slavery, to look with watchfulness to the attempts which 
have been recently made to disturb the rights secured to them 
by the constitution of the United States. The agitation of 
the abolitionists can by no possibility produce good to any 
portion of the Union, and must, if persisted in, lead to incal- 
culable mischief. The institution of domestic slavery, as it 
j existed at the adoption of the constitution of the United 
J States, and as it still exists in some of the states, formed the 
! subject of one of the compromises of opinion and of interest 
t upon the settlement of which all the old states became par- 
\ ties to the compact, and agreed to enter the Union. The new 
\ states were admitted into the Union upon an equal footing 
with the old states, and are equally bound by the terms of 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 21 

the compact. Any attempt on the part of the Federal Go- 
vernment to act upon the subject of slavery, as it exists within 
the states, would be a clear infraction of the constitution: 
and to disturb it within the District of Columbia would be a 
palpable violation of the public faith, as well as of the clear 
meaning and obvious intention of the framers of the constitu- 
tion. They intended to leave, as they did in fact leave, the \ 
subject to the exclusive regulation and action of the states . 
and territories within which slavery existed or might exist. J 
They intended to place, and they did in fact place it beyond 
the pale of action within the constitutional power of the 
Federal Government. No power has been conferred upon 
the general government, either by express grant or necessary 
implication, to take cognizance of, or in any manner or to 
any extent to interfere with, or to act upon the subject of 
domestic slavery, the existence of which in many of the states 
is expressly recognized by the constitution of the United 
States." 



THE HONOURABLE JAMES BUCHANAN, 
Sechetart of State at Washington. 

It was at the annual ball given at Washington, on the 8th 
of January, in commemoration of the battle of New Orleans, 
that I was first presented to Mr. Buchanan, and at once I 
knew that I had looked upon a friend. Daring my residence 
in that city I frequently appealed to him for advice, and never 
in vain; he heard me with patience, entered into, the various 
considerations attendant upon my happiness and comfort, 
granted me every indulgence, and accorded my every wish. 
Occasionally mistrust came over me, and the dread of an 
unholy war, and the long animosity which it would entail 
upon the rival countries, became intolerable; at these times 
I have sought consolation from Mr. Buchanan. At the de- 
partment of state, at his own residence, I was at all times 
instantly admitted, and received with welcome, and I ever 
left his presence with a light and happy heart. 

The Secretary is tall and well proportioned ; his manners i 
are gentle and composed, and his articulation peculiarly 



22 MR. BUCHANAN. 

slow and distinct. He looks like an English nobleman of 
thirty or forty years ago, when the grave and dignified bear- 
ing of men in power was regarded as an essential attribute 
L_pf their ofhce. This aristocratic address and manner, how- 
ever, are natural, not acquired, in Mr. Buchanan, the result 
of an elevated character and urbanity of disposition, united 
with the long practice of office, and the habit of command. 
I have had the honour of being admitted to his presence 
when business of an arduous and responsible kind awaited 
his attention, when circumstances of vexatious and important 
tendency required his care ; but I have never, for one instant, 

— seen the least departure from that perfect self-possession 
which bestows so peculiar a grace on him who can practise 
it, and which has ever so singular an influence on him who 
witnesses it. The fair and delicate, though fresh, complexion 

__ of Mr. Buchanan, his eye of light blue, and full-blooded 
system, attest unequivocally his Anglo-Saxon descent, and 
by this description I hope I have clearly established my 
claim upon the outward man as one of my country. But 
here I must be content ; the heart and soul of Buchanan, 
each hour of life, each energy of mind, are given to America. 
Cautious and deliberating, thoroughly appreciating the extent 
of his power, and the responsibility of his position, this 
noble-minded man twice tendered his resignation when his 
opinions conscientiously differed from those of the adminis- 
tration. He is unquestionably the first man in the existing 
government, and there is no doubt that had he quitted office, 
the relations between England and the United States would 
have worn a much more hostile aspect, for though Buchanan 
regarded the 54° 40' parallel as the indisputable right of 
America, his humane and sagacious policy yielded this right 
rather than rush upon a war fraught with doubtful good and 
certain evil. For this moderation he will be applauded by 
every true lover of his country, both in England and America. 
It may be gratifying to Mr. Buchanan to learn tliat since the 
publication of the correspondence between the British Min- 
ister and himself, many persons on this side of the Atlantic 
have adopted his opinions, and consider that the Americans 
showed the better claim. I have heard these convictions 
acknowledged even by men of the high Tory regime. Mr. 
Gallatin expressed personally to me his high opinion of the 
merits of Mr. Buchanan's letters. 

In social life the Secretary of State is easy and hospitable, 
and invariably receives with cordiality the marks of attention 



MR. BUCHANAN. 23 

and respect which are paid to him. I have understood that 
his reading in law and history is extensive, and study has 
ever formed his principal recreation. In conversation he is 
rather a listener than a speaker ; but he is always in advance 
of the subject as it proceeds, and sometimes puts a starding 
question when it is least expected. His opinions both of 
the subject and of the speaker are founded very much on the 
i/npremeditafed replies which he elicits. This peculiarity 
is probably the result equally of a legal education a!id of 
long official habits; but it is ever attended with courtesy, 
and always exhibits the earnest purpose and reasoning mind 
which prompt such a mode of investigation. There is one 
trait of Mr. Buchanan's character which cannot be too highly 
estimated, inasmuch as it is rare in all men, and still more 
rare in statesmen. He is faithful to a promise, and regards 
his word as a bond. His friendships are lasting, and he is 
said to possess the weakness (and I believe it true) that 
clung to Mr. Canning from youth to age, excessive and tena- 
cious watchfulness of the aflections of those to whom he is 
attached. Public life, with its artificial system, its selfish and 
worldly hopes and fears, has never chilled the heart of the 
minister: he finds time, through all his cares, to exercise 
his warm affections, his generous sympathies; to advise the 
unprotected, to relieve the distressed. Never has charity 
been asked of him in vain ; and many a daily prayer from 
the widow and the orphan ascends to heaven for their gene- 
rous though often unknown benefactor. Though unmarried, 
Mr. Buchanan has the most delicate and exalted appreciation 
of the female character; and free from those narrow preju- 
dices which reduce a woman to a plaything, he does not dis- 
dain to honour her worth, and to encourage her attempts at 
usefulness. Religion, to his honour be it spoken, is the fre- 
quent subject of this statesman's meditation. In his private 
cabinet at home, on the small table in daily use, and within 
arm's reach, are placed two volumes ; — the one Jay's Devout 
Exercises, the other the New Testament. 

Mr. Buchanan is a constant attendant on public Avorship. 
He is a member of the Presbyterian churcii, but he is too 
enlightened for bigotry, and to his discriminating and liberal 
policy it is owing that a Roman Catholic Prelate, of exalted 
reputation for wisdom and piety, has been consulted on the 
aspect of affairs between the United States and Mexico. 

I have frequently had the pleasure of conversing with Mr. 
Buchanan since the settlement of the Oregon question (the 



24 MK. BUCHANAN. 

articles of which will, I have understood, be called the Treaty 
of Washington.) He exhibited no narrow-minded feeling 
of personal vexation, but congratulated me frankly and cordi- 
ally on the termination of this anxious affair. The Secretary 
alluded to his retirement to the Supreme Bench, as a thing 
contemplated, though not immediate, for he wisely judged that 
true magnanimity at that moment consisted in holding and 
not in hastily escaping from office. On the other hand, he 
dwelt with lingering pleasure on the charms of rural life, its 
leisure, its amusements, its health and independence. But 
though no retiring minister ever appeared in brighter colours 
than Buchanan, I rejoice to hear that he is still at the helm of 
government, and that he probably will remain in this distin- 
guished post. 



EXTRACTS FROM THE SPEECH OF MR. BUCHANAN, IN 

EXECUTIVE SESSION. 

In favor of the treaty for the annexation of Texas to the 
United States, delivered in the Senate of the United 
States, 8th June, 1844, (the injunction of secresy re- 
moved.) 

In order clearly to understand the origin and nature of the 
question, it may here be proper to present a brief sketch of 
the history of Texas. By the treaty of Louisiana of 30th 
April, 1803, the United States acquired this province from 
France. Every American statesman who has treated of the 
subject, from Mr. Jefferson down to the distinguished senator 
from Missouri (Mr. Benton) is clear and strong in this con- 
viction. " The facts and principles which justify this conclu- 
sion," say Messrs. Monroe and Pinckney to the Spanish 
commissioner, in 1805, " are so satisfactory to our government 
as to convince it that the United States have not a better right 
to the island of New Orleans than they have to the whole 
district of territory west to the Del Norte." And what was 
the eloquent language of the senator from Missouri, in view 
of the negotiations pending in 1818, and which resulted in 
thecession of Texas to Spain? " The magniticent valley of 
the Mississippi is ours," says he, "witli all its fountains, 
springs and floods ; and woe to the statesman that shall un- 
dertake to surrender one drop of its water — one inch of its 
soil — to any foreign power." Under this treaty of Louisiana, 



MR. BUCHANAN. 25 

we entered into a solemn agreement with France that the in- 
habitants of the ceded territory "should be incorporated into 
the Unionof the United States, as soon as possible, according 
to the principles of the federal constitution," and should, in 
the meantime, be protected in the free enjoyment of their 
liberty, property and religion. 

In what manner have we redeemed our faith, thus plighted 
to France? Texas was ours; but it is ours no longer. In 
violation of the treaty of Louisiana, we ceded Texas to Spain 
by the Florida treaty of 1819. We thus dismembered the 
valley of the Mississippi, and extended the boundary of a 
foreign nation along our most weak and defenceless frontier. 

And, in the first place, therefore, Texas ought to be an- 
nexed to the Union, because the possession of this territory 
is necessary to our defence, peace and security. The treaty 
of 1819, with Spain, abandoned our natural limits. It 
yielded up the boundary of a great river — the Del Norte — 
of a desert, and of a chain of mountains, for a mere arbitrary 
line. Whoever casts his eyes upon the map will be con- 
vinced of this truth. This treaty gave a foreign nation ter- 
ritory upon the banks of two of our noblest rivers — the 
Arkansas and the Red River — both tributaries of the Missis- 
sippi, and thus laid the foundation of perpetual disputes 
concerning their navigation. These disputes have already 
commenced between us and Texas. Such river questions 
have ever been a source of perpetual contest between con- 
terminous nations. The republic of Texas now approaches 
the immediate vicinity of New Orleans, and thus our weak- 
est frontier is exposed. All will admit that General Jackson 
is a high authority on military questions. In his letter to 
Mr. Brown, of the 12th February, 1843, he renders it clear, 
that, should Texas form an alliance with Great Britain, in 
case of war, our weak south-western frontier would be left 
open, and exposed to the invasion of this powerful and hostile 
nation, and that the means would thus be placed under its 
control of exciting a servile insurrection within our borders. 
On the other hand, if Texas were annexed to the United 
States, "our western boundary (says the General) would be 
the Rio del Norte, which is of itself a fortification, on account 
of its extensive barren and uninhabitable plains. With such 
a barrier on our west we are invincible. The whole* Euro- 
pean world could not, in combination against us, make an 
impression on our Union." 

In the second place, Texas ought to be annexed to the 



26 MR. BUCHANAN. 

United States, because this would greatly increase our in- 
ternal commerce, extend the market for our domestic manu- 
factures, and bind the Union together by still stronger bonds; 
but, on the other hand, should you reject Texas, she will 
necessarily form a commercial alliance with our great rival, 
England, who would thus secure to herself the finest cotton 
growing region of the earth at our expense, and to the lasting 
injury and prejudice of all our great interests. 

It has been estimated that our internal commerce, or home 
trade, is already fifteen times as great as our commerce with 
foreign nations. The acquisition of Texas would, in a very 
few years, vastly increase this domestic trade. The manu- 
factures of the North would here find an ever growing mar- 
ket; whilst our commercial marine and our steam-vessels 
would obtain profitable employment in transporting the cotton, 
the sugar and other agricultural productions of Texas, not 
only throughout the Union, but over the world. Ours will 
be a glorious system of free trade, and the only one which 
the jealousy and the interest of foreign nations will ever 
permit us to enjoy. Should Texas be annexed, and our 
Union preserved, there are human beings now in existence 
who will live to see one hundred millions of freemen within 
its limits, enjoying all the benefits of free trade and unre- 
stricted commerce with each other. Henry the Great of 
France, more than two hundred years ago, conceived the 
magnificent idea — it was called his grand design — of dividing 
Europe into fifteen confederated states, for the purpose of 
preserving peace and promoting free commerce among its 
different nations. He died in the execution of this grand 
design, which was alone sufficient to entide him to the name 
of Great. It is only thus that we can fulfil our high desti- 
nies, and run the race of greatness for which we are ordained. 
The time has passed away when serious fears can be enter- 
tained from an extensian of our Union, although I admit that 
the Del Norte seems to be the boundary prescribed by nature 
between the Anglo-Saxon and the Mexican races. Within this 
limit, the more we extend our system of confederated States, 
the greater will be the strength and security of the Union; be- 
cause the more dependent will the several parts be upon the 
whole, and the whole upon the several parts. If there were 
no other bond to preserve our Union, what State would 
forego the advantages of this vast free trade with all her sis- 
ters, and place herself in lonely isolation? This system of 
confederated republics, under which the federal government 



MR. BUCHANAN. 27 

has charge of the interests common to the whole, whilst 
local governments watch over the concerns of the respective 
States, is capable of almost indefinite extension with increas- 
ing strength. This strength can never be impaired but by 
the attempts of the federal government to pass beyond its 
legitimate limits, and interfere with interests belonging pe- 
culiarly to the States. 

But suppose that we reject Texas, what will be the conse- 
quences ? And here I invoke the patient attention of the 
Senate. From the necessity of the case, she must cast her- 
self into the arms of England. Both her interest and her 
safety render this inevitable. 1 do not believe that Texas 
would ever consent to become a colony of England, or that 
England desires to colonize Texas. England could not 
make her a colony without certain war with this country, 
unless we should abandon the principle announced by Mr. 
Monroe in 1823, and which was enthusiastically hailed by 
the American people, that European nations shall no longer 
be permitted to plant colonies on our continent. No, sir, 
Texas will never become a colony of England, but she will 
form a commercial alliance with England; and to this we 
could not object under any principle of the law of nations. 
Such an alliance, in its consequences, would be equally in- 
jurious to our peace and prosperity. 

Permit me for a few moments to present this branch of the 
subject in its different aspects. The cotton manufacture is 
necessary not merely to the prosperity, but almost to the 
very existence, of England. Destroy it, and you ruin her 
prosperity. She well knows that she is necessarily depend- 
ent upon the nation which holds in its hands the raw mate- 
rial of this manufacture. Such is our position towards her 
at the present moment. To relieve herself from this de- 
pendence, she has endeavoured to promote the cultivation of 
cotton everywhere throughout the world. Brazil, Egypt, 
and the East Indies have all, in turns, been the theatre of her 
operations ; but she has yet succeeded nowhere to any great 
extent. She has encountered difficulties in the soil or in the 
climate of these different countries which she has not been 
able to overcome. Texas is now presented to her, with a 
soil and a climate better adapted for tlie cultivation of cotton 
than any other region on the face of the earth. England 
would not be true to herself if she did not eagerly desire to 
form a commercial alHance with Texas. 

Now, sir, annex Texas to the United States, and we shall 



28 MR. BUCHANAN. 

have within the limits of our broad confederacy all the 
favoured cotton growing regions of the earth. England will 
then for ever remain dependent upon us for the raw mate- 
rial of her greatest manufacture; and an army of one hun- 
dred thousand men would not be so great a security for 
preserving the peace between the two nations as this de- 
pendence. 

It is the very condition of England's existence as a power- 
ful and prosperous nation that she shall find consumers for 
her manufactures. The continent of Europe is now, in a 
great degree, closed against them, and she is traversing sea 
and land, and exerting all her power, to open markets for 
them throughout the other quarters of the globe. A very 
long period of time must elapse even, if ever, before Texas 
can become a manufacturing nation. A commercial treaty 
will, then, be concluded between the two nations founded 
on their mutual interests, the basis of which will be free 
trade, so far as this may be possible. England will receive 
the cotton, sugar and other productions of Texas, whilst 
Texas, in return, will admit the manufactures of England. 
And I ask what could be more ruinous to all our interests 
than such a free trade convention between these two powers ? 

British manufactures will be admitted into Texas either 
entirely free or at a very low rate of duty ; and a system of 
smuggling will be organized along our extended frontier 
which no vigilance can prevent, and which will greatly re- 
duce our revenue and injure our domestic manufactures. 

In arriving at the conclusion to support this treaty, I had 
to encounter but one serious obstacle, and this was the ques- 
tion of Slavery. Whilst I ever have maintained, and ever 
shall maintain, in their full force and vigour, the constitu- 
tional rights of the southern States over their slave property, 
I yet feel a strong repugnance, by any act of mine, to ex- 
tend the present limits of the Union over a new slave-hold- 
ing territory. After mature reflection, however, I overcame 
these scruples, and now believe that the acquisition of Texas 
will be the means of limiting, not enlarging, the dominion of 
slavery. In the government of the world. Providence gene- 
rally produces great changes by gradual means. There is 
nothing rash in the counsels of the Almighty. May not, 
then, the acquisition of Texas, be the means of gradually 
drawing the slaves far to the south, to a climate more conge- 
nial to their nature ; and may they not finally pass off into 



MR. BUCHANAN. 29 

Mexico, and there mingle with a race where no prejudice 
exists against their color? The Mexican nation is composed 
of Spaniards, Indians and Negroes, hlended together in every 
variety, who would receive our slaves on terms of perfect 
social equality. To this condition they never can be admit- 
ted in the United States. 

That the acquisition of Texas would ere long convert 
Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, and probably others 
of the more northern slave States into free States, I entertain 
not a doubt. In fact, public opinion was gradually accom- 
plishing this happy result, when the process was arrested by 
the mad interference of the abolitionists. A measure, hav- 
ing directly in view the gradual abolition of slavery, came 
within one vote, if my memory serves me, of passing the 
House of Delegates of Virginia shortly before the abolition 
excitement commenced. There was then in that State a 
powerful, influential and growing party in favour of gradual 
Emancipation, and they were animated to exertion by the 
brightest hopes of success ; but the interference of fanatics 
from abroad has so effectually turned back the tide of public 
opinion, that no individual would now venture to offer such 
a proposition in the Virginia legislature. The efforts of the 
abolitionists, whether so intended or not, have long post- 
poned the day of emancipation. 

But should Texas be annexed to the Union, causes will 
be brought into operation which must inevitably remove 
slavery from what may be called the farming States. From 
the very best information, it is no longer profitable to raise 
wheat, rye and corn by slave labour. Where these articles 
are the only staples of agriculture, in the pointed and ex- 
pressive language of Mr. Randolph, " if the slave don't run 
away from his master, the master must run away from the 
slave." The slave will naturally be removed from such a 
country, where his labour is scarcely adequate to his own 
support, to a region where he can not only maintain himself, 
but yield large profits to his master. Texas will open such 
an outlet; and Slavery itself may thus finally pass the Del 
Norte, and be lost in Mexico. One thing is certain. The 
present number of slaves cannot be increased by the annexa- 
tion of Texas. 

I have never apprehended the preponderance of the slave 
States in the counsels of the nation. Such a fear has always 
appeared to me to be visionary. But even those who enter- 
tain such apprehensions need not be alarmed by the acqui- 



30 MR. BUCHANAN. 

sition of Texas. More than the one lialf of its territory is 
wholly unfit for slave labour, and therefore, in the nature of 
thinjTS, must be free. 

The Treaty itself ought to determine how many free and 
how many slave States should be made out of this Terri- 
tory ; or it ought, in express terms, to leave the question of 
slavery to be decided by those States in their constitutions, 
as they severally apply for admission into the Union. 

In the course of human events, Texas has again been pre- 
sented to us for our acceptance. When we ceded it to Spain, 
it was almost a wilderness ; but it is now peopled by our 
sons, our brothers, and our kindred, who have convinced the 
world,^ by their bravery, that they are worthy of their breed- 
ing. They offer to return to our bosom themselves, and to 
restore to us this fine and fertile country which we had lost — 
a country more extensive than France, and naturally as beau- 
tiful, and blessed with almost every variety of soil and cli- 
mate. And shall we reject this munificent donation? They 
jusUy appreciate a union with us as the highest privilege 
which any political community on earth can enjoy, and are 
willing to surrender themselves and their all to "become free 
and sovereign States of our confederacy. 

A proper regard for the opinion of 'mankind has hitherto 
wisely prevented our government from treating for the an- 
nexation of Texas to this country. That we might, years 
ago, have concluded such a treaty, without any violation of 
national faith or national honour, I entertain not a doubt; 
but still we owed it to our own character before the nations 
of the earth not to act with precipitation on a question of 
such peculiar delicacy. Throughout the war we have main- 
tained a strict neutrality between the belligerent powers. 
The Independence of Texas has now been acknowledged by 
the principal commercial nations of the earth. She has 
entered into treaties with them and with us. No foot of an 
invading enemy rests, or has ever rested, upon her soil since 
the battle of San Jacinto. She still regards her restoration 
to the bosom of our republic with an eye of intense desire. 
She has never faltered in this purpose, since the Declaration 
of her Independence in 1836, when she determined, with 
enthusiastic unanimity, in favour of re-annexation. The 
time has at length arrived when we may receive her without 
any imputation upon our honour. 



31 



EX-GOVERNOR WILLIAM H. SEWARD, OF NEW YORK, 

I SHALL again allude, in the succeeding portion of this 
work, to Governor Seward ; but he is a remarkable person- 
age, and deserves peculiar notice. Many men possess supe- 
rior talents, in particular and individual matters ; but it is 
rare to meet with a mind so generally comprehensive, and a 
heart so full of various feeling. The law is his profession ; 
but politics are a profession in the United States ; and the 
influences of these two mighty powers, so universal through- 
out the Republic, are constantly to be distinguished recipro- 
cating upon each other in the motives and actions of this 
devoted lover of his country and of her institutions. Sym- 
pathy with his race, both with the mass and the individual, 
with the virtuous and for the degraded, with the happy and the 
unhappy, with the white man and the black ; sympathy in- 
tense, unresting and universal, is the secret of Seward's cha- 
racter. Where weeps the destitute, there his voice is heard ; 
where pines the oppressed, there his spirit lingers near; where 
groans the outcast, perchance the murderer, there also is he 
present, seeking to palliate, if not to save. I regard his per- 
ception of the springs of action as intuitive, and have, on 
more than one occasion, listened to his delineation of the 
criminal's progressive course in vice, with gratified and cu- 
rious interest ; he has sometimes shown me that even in the 
perpetration of the most hideous crimes, the offender may 
yet be human. Like most men of fervent character, it is in 
criminal causes that Seward is pre-eminent; in these his 
legal research, his acute perception, and his just and merciful 
nature shine forth in unrivalled lustre. In various civil 
causes he has proved himself an able and effective lawyer, 
and several distinguished members of the bar have expressed 
much commendation of his argument in the highly important 
Patent Case, in which he was eminently successful. Judge 
M'Lean, of the Supreme Court of the United States, and 
the Honorable John Y. Mason, United States' Attorney Ge- 
neral, both gave most honorable testimony to his zeal and 
ability. His first appearance in public life was as the op- 
poser of Masonic tyranny. He has been twice governor of 
his native state, and was the man who withstood the Admin- 
istration in the aflfair of M'Cleod. The politics of Governor 



32 GOVERNOR SEWARD. 

Seward perplex me ; he is a staunch supporter of the high 
J ariff; sided with the Whigs who gave the notice on the 
Uregon question ; is the political adherent and devoted friend 
ot John Quincy Adams,* and is a supporter of the Federal 
Government as opposed to the division of interests by state 
rights. On the other hand, he is an ultra democrat, active 
m obtaining the immediate right of suffrage for emigrants, 
and the privilege of an individual vote for negroes ; he is be- 
sides pledged, as the first principle of his political exertions, 
to the abolition of slavery. In each of these opinions, save 
one, 1 differ from him ; but such are his candour and inge- 
nuity, that while I listen to his arguments, I both esteem the 
man and admire the polidcian the more heartily. This emi- 
nent person is intimately versed in the history of his country, 
and he expounds, in the most lucid manner, the intricacies both 
n^r P^'f f ^""^ present relations, whether party or political. 
1 he address and manners of Governor Seward are very 
agreeable, though his voice is guttural and uncultivated, which 
possibly arises from an absence of all pleasure in music; 
confessedly he cannot distinguish a chant from a iio-. His 
appearance is very youthful for forty-four ; he is of fair com- 
plexion, and possesses one peculiarity of feature which is to 
me of singular interest. In speaking or smiling the upper 
iijp has a slight nervous and tremulous motion, independent 
ot Its action in articulation. This peculiarity I have seen but 
twice before; it is, of course, involuntary, is observed only 
in men, and is always accompanied by the most acute sensi- 
bilities. 

The Governor is the constant and ardent advocate of uni- 
versal education, and he is ever true to the republican prin- 
ciple that all men are equal : indifferent to the accidental ad- 
vantages of life, he mingles with all who make virtue their 
inward guide, and propriety their outward garb. 

Such is my view of this interesting man; and few have 
shared his confidence so intimately as I have done ; to his 
keeping I would confide my most important interests, and to 
fiis friendship I would entrust my life. Hereafter I hope to 
see a darlmg son trained up by his guidance in the principles 
and practice of that noble profession which he himself' so 
much adorns. As a brother to a sister is dear, so to me is 
William H. Seward. 

, vT '^7u'^ his rriendship unreturned by the venerable Ex-President to 

sirof a^ct^o '" rf'"^' '" ""^^' ^^^ *h^ P'— « «^ observing 'the 
smile of affection which came over his countenance whenever the Gover- 
nor was presented to his recollection. 



GOVERNOR SEWARD. 33 

Since writing the above I have been present at Auburn, 
during the trial of William Freeman, the black boy, for the 
murder of the Van Nest family, and have heard the wonder- 
ful pleading of Governor Seward for the wretched and de- 
mented criminal. In my humble judgment, no being so evi- 
dently, so palpably destitute of reasoning powers as Freeman, 
should have been considered as responsible; and according to 
this conviction the legal, constitutional and righteous course 
would have been, after proving that he had committed the 
crime, to place him in close confinement for life. William 
Seward was, perhaps, the only man who would have under- 
taken the defence of this miscreant, and he was induced to 
assume the task partly because it had been alleged that, in 
consequence of the defence made for a criminal by him on a 
previous occasion, the boy Freeman was led to suppose that 
he might commit murders with impunity. Seward defended 
his abject client on the best established grounds of mental 
derangement, with all the zeal and ability which I expected 
from him ; but when he entered upon his own justification he 
displayed an eloquence, independence and elevation of cha- 
racter rarely equalled. After commenting upon the insinua- 
tions against him, he solemnly averred, " before God and 
man, that there was no single word which he had ever uttered 
in any court of justice which he would wish recalled." This 
asseveration was uttered in a manner noble and touching in 
the extreme. 

The eloquence of Governor Seward is of a kind per se ; 
it faithfully conveys those ardent sympathies to which I have 
alluded in my feeble attempt to pourtray a character so rare 
and so peculiar. His is an eloquent nature, and invokes an 
eloquent interpreter ; his words are flung forth, simple, im- 
passioned and searching ; fresh and free as the impulses of 
his breast. I do not seek to analyse his powers ; the follow- 
ing extract will justify my comment. 



EXTRACTS 

FROM THE ARGUMENT OF WILLIAM H. SEWARD, 

IN DEFENCE OF WM. FREEMAN, 

Ox HIS Trial for Murder, at Auburn, on the 21st and 22d 

July, 1846. 

May it Please the Court, Gentlemen of the Jury, 

*'Thou SHALT not KILL," and "Whoso sheddeth man's 
3 



34 GOVERNOR SEWARD. 

BLOOD BY MAN SHALL HIS BLOOD BE SHED," are laws foiind in 
the code of that people who, although dispersed and dis- 
tracted, trace their history to the creation; a history which 
records that murder was the first of human crimes. 

The first of these precepts constitutes a tenth part of the 
jurisprudence which God saw fit to establish, at an early 
period, for the government of all mankind, throughout all 
generations. The latter, of less universal obligation, is still 
retained in our system, although other States, as intelligent 
and refined, as secure and peaceful, have substituted for it 
the more benign principle that good shall be returned for evil. 
I yield implicit submission to this law, and acknowledge the 
justice of its penalty, and the duty of courts and juries to 
give it eff'ect. 

In this case, if the prisoner be guilty of Murder, I do not 
ask remission of punishment. If he be guilty, never Was 
murderer more guilty. He has murdered not only John G. 
Van Nest, but his hands are reeking with the blood of other 
and numerous, and even more pitiable victims. The slaying 
of Van Nest, if a crime at all, was the cowardly crime of 
assassination. John G. Van Nest was a just, upright, vir- 
tuous man, of middle age, of grave and modest demeanor, 
distinguished by especial marks of the respect and esteem of 
his fellow-citizens. On his arm leaned a confiding wife, and 
they supported, on the one side, children to whom they had 
given being, and, on the other, aged and venerable parents, 
from whom they had derived existence. The assassination 
of such a man was an atrocious crime, but the murderer, 
with more than savage refinement, immolated on the same 
altar, in the same hour, a venerable and virtuous matron of 
more than threescore years, and her daughter, the wife of 
Van Nest, mother of an unborn infant. Nor was this all. 
Providence, which, for its own mysterious purposes, per- 
mitted these dreadful crimes, in mercy suffered the same arm 
to be raised against the sleeping orphan child of the butchered 
parents, and received it into heaven. A whole family, just, 
gentle, and pure, were thus, in their own house, in the night 
time, without any provocation, without one moment's warn- 
ing, sent by the murderer to join the assembly of the Just; 
and even the laboring man, sojourning within their gates, re- 
ceived the fatal blade into his breast, and survives through 
the mercy, not of the murderer, but of God. 

For William Freeman, as a murderer, I have no commis- 
sion to speak. If he had silver and gold accumulated with 



GOVERNOR SEWARD. 35 

the frugality of CrcESus, and should pour it all at my feet, I 
would not stand an hour between him and the Avenger. But 
for the innocent, it is my right, my duty, to speak. If this 
sea of blood was innocently shed, then it is my duty to stand 
beside him until his steps lose their hold upon the scaffold. 

I am arraigned before you for undue manifestations of zeal 
and excitement. My answer to all such charges shall be 
brief. When this cause shall have been committed to you, 
I shall be happy indeed if it shall appear that my only error 
has been, that I have felt too much, thought too intensely, or 
acted too faithfully. 

I plead not for a murderer. I have no inducement, no 
motive, to do so. I have addressed my fellow-citizens in 
many various relations, when rewards of wealth and fame 
awaited me. I have been cheered, on other occasions, by 
manifestations of popular approbation and sympathy ; and 
where there was no such encouragement,, I had at least the 
gratitude of him whose cause I defended. But I speak now 
in the hearing of a people who have prejudged the prisoner, 
and condemned me for pleading in his behalf. He is a con- 
vict, a pauper, a negro, without intellect, sense, or emotiouo 
My child, with an affectionate smile, disarms my care-worn 
face of its frown whenever I cross my threshold. The beg- 
gar in the street obliges me to give, because he says " God 
bless you," as I pass. My dog caresses me with fondness 
if I will but smde on him. My horse recognizes me when 
I fill his manger. But what reward, what gratitude, what 
sympathy and affection can I expect here I There the 
prisoner sits. Look at him. Look at the assemblage 
around you. Listen to their ill-suppressed censures and 
their excited fears, and tell me where among my neigh- 
bors or my fellow men, where even in his heart, I can expect 
to find the sentiment, the thought, not to say of reward or of 
acknowledgment, but even of recognition. I sat here two 
weeks during the preliminary trial. I stood here between 
the prisoner and the Jury nine hours, and pleaded for the 
wretch that he was insane and did not even know he was on 
trial : and when all was done, the Jury thought, at least ele- 
ven of them thought, that I had been deceiving them, or was 
self-deceived. They read signs of intelligence in his idiotic 
smile, and of cunning and malice in his stolid insensibility. 
They rendered a verdict that he was sane enough to be tried, 
a contemptible compromise verdict in a capital case; and 
then they looked on, with what emotions God and they only 



36 GOVERNOR SEWARD. 

know, upon his arraignment. The district attorney, speaking 
in his adder ear, bade him rise, and reading to him one in- 
dictment, asked him whether he wanted a trial, and the poor 
fool answered, No. Have you Counsel ? No. And they 
went through the same mockery, the prisoner giving the same 
answers, until a third indictment was thundered in his ears; 
and he stood before the Court, sdent, motionless, and bewil- 
dered. Gentlemen, you may think of this evidence what 
you please, bring in what verdict you can, but I asseverate 
before Heaven and you, that, to the best of my knowledge 
and belief, the prisoner at the bar does not at this moment 
know why it is that my shadow falls on you instead of his 
own. 

I speak with all sincerity and earnestness ; not because I 
expect my opinion to have weight, but I would disarm the 
injurious impression that I am speaking merely as a lawyer 
speaks for his client. I am not the prisoner's lawyer. I am 
indeed a volunteer in his behalf; but society and mankind 
have the deepest interests at stake. I am the lawyer for 
SOCIETY, FOR MANKIND, shoclvcd bcyoud the power of ex- 
pression, at the scene I have witnessed here of trying a 
maniac as a malefactor. 

{The circumstances under which the question of sanity 
was tried are thus described: — ) 

That Jury was selected without peremptory challenge. 
Many of the jurors entered the panel with settled opinions 
that the prisoner was not only guilty of the homicide, but 
sane, and all might have entertained such opinions for all 
that the prisoner could do. It was a verdict founded on such 
evidence as could be hastily collected in a community where 
it required moral courage to testify for the accused. Testi- 
mony was excluded upon frivolous and unjust pretences. 
The cause was submitted to the jury on the fourth of July, 
and under circumstances calculated to convey a malicious 
and unjust spirit into the jury box. It was a strange cele- 
bration. The dawn of the Day of Independence was not 
greeted with cannon or bells. No lengthened procession 
was seen in our streets, nor were the voices of orators heard 
in our public halls. An intense excitement brought a vast 
multitude here, complaining of the delay and the expense of 
what was deemed an unnecessary trial, and demanding the 
sacrifice of a victim, who had been spared too long already. 
For hours that assemblage was roused and excited by denun- 
ciations of the prisoner, and ridicule of his deafness, his 



GOVERNOR SEWARD. 37 

ignorance, and his imbecility. Before the jury retired, the 
Court was informed that they were ready to render the ver- 
dict required. One juror, however, hesitated. The next 
day was the Sabbath. The jury were called, and the Court 
remonstrated with the dissentient, and pressed the necessity 
of a verdict. That juror gave way at last, and the bell which 
summoned our citizens to Church for the evening service, 
was the signal for the discharge of the jury, because they 
had agreed. Even thus a legal verdict could not be extorted. 
The eleven jurors, doubtless under an intimation from the 
Court, compromised with the twelfth, and a verdict was ren- 
dered, not in the language of the law, that the prisoner was 
"not insane," but that he was "sufficiendy sane, in mind 
and memory, to distinguish between right and wrong;" a 
verdict which implied that the prisoner was at least partially 
insane, was diseased in other faculties besides the memory, 
and partially diseased in that, and that, although he had mind 
and memory to distinguish between right and wrong in the 
abstract, he had not reason and understanding and will to 
regulate his conduct according to that distinction ; in short, 
a verdict by which the jury unworthily evaded the question 
submitted to them, and cast upon the court a responsibility 
which it had no right to assume, but which it did nevertheless 
assume, in violation of the law. That twelfth juror was 
afterwards drawn as a juror in this cause, and was challenged 
by the Counsel for the people for partiality to the prisoner, 
and the challenge was sustained by the Court, because, al- 
though he had, as the Court say, pronounced by his verdict 
that the prisoner was sane, he then declared that he believed 
the prisoner insane, and would die in the jury box before he 
would render a verdict that he was sane. Last and chief of 
all objections to that verdict now, it has been neither pleaded 
nor proved here, and therefore is not in evidence before you. 
I trust then that you will dismiss to the contempt of mankind 
that jury and their verdict, thus equivocating upon law and 
science, health and disease, crime and innocence. 

Again : an inferior standard of intelligence has been set up 
here as the standard of the Negro race, and a false one as 
the standard of the Asiatic race. This prisoner traces a di- 
vided lineage. On the paternal side his ancestry is lost 
among the tioer hunters on the Gold Coast of Africa, while 
his mother constitutes a portion of the small remnant of the 
Narragansett tribe. Hence it is held that the prisoner's in- 
tellect is to be compared with the depreciating standard of 



38 GOVERNOR SEWARD. 

the African, and his passions with the violent and ferocious 
character erroneously imputed to the aborigines. Indications 
of manifest derangement, or at least of imbecility approach- 
ing to idiocy, are, therefore, set aside, on the ground that 
they harmonize with the legitimate but degraded character- 
istics of the races from which he is descended. You, gen- 
tlemen, have, or ought to have, lifted up your souls above 
the bondage of prejudices so narrow and so mean as these. 
The colour of the prisoner's skin, and the form of his fea- 
tures, are not impressed upon the spiritual, immortal mind 
which works beneath. In spite of human pride, he is still 
your brother, and mine, in form and colour accepted and 
approved by his Father, and yours, and mine, and bears 
equally with us the proudest inheritance of our race — the 
image of our Maker. Hold him then to be a Man. Exact 
of him all the responsibilities which should be exacted under 
like circumstances if he belonged to the Anglo-Saxon race, 
and make for him all the allowances, and deal with him with 
all the tenderness which, under like circumstances, you would 
expect for yourselves. 

Although my definition would not perhaps be strictly ac- 
curate, I should pronounce insanity to be a derangement of 
the mind, character and conduct, resulting from bodily dis- 
ease. If derangement, which is insanity, mean only what 
we have assumed, how absurd is it to be looking to detect 
whether memory, hope, joy, fear, hunger, thirst, reason, 
understanding, wit, and other faculties remain ! So long as 
life lasts they never cease to abide with man, whether he 
pursue his straight and natural way, or the crooked and un- 
natural course of the lunatic. If he be diseased his faculties 
will not cease to act. They will only act differently. It is 
contended here that the prisoner is not deranged because he 
performed his daily task in the state prison, and his occa- 
sional labour afterwards ; because he grinds his knives, fits 
his weapons, and handles the file, the axe and the saw, as 
he was instructed, and as he was wont to do. Now the 
lunatic asylum at Utica has not an idle person in it, except 
the victims of absolute and incurable dementia, the last and 
worst stage of all insanity. Lunatics are almost the busiest 
people in the world. They have their prototypes only in 
children. One lunatic will make a garden, another drive the 
plough, another gather flowers. One writes poetry, another 
essays, another orations. In short, lunatics eat, drink, sleep, 
work, fear, love, hate, laugh, weep, mourn, die. They do 



GOVERNOR SEWARD. 39 

all things that sane men do, but do them in some peculiar 
way. It is said, however, that this prisoner has hatred and 
anger, that he has remembered his wrongs, and nursed and 
cherished revenge ; wherefore, he cannot be insane. Cow- 
per, a moralist who had tasted the bitter cup of insanity, 
reasoned otherwise : — 

" But violence can never longer sleep, 
Than Human Passions please. In ev'ry heart 
Are sown the sparks that kindle fi'ry war; 
Occasion needs but fan them and they blaze, 
The seeds of murder in the breast of man." 

Melancholy springs oftenest from recalling and brooding 
over wrong and sufiering. Melancholy is the first stage of 
madness, and it is only recently that the less accurate name 
of monomania has been substituted in the place of melan- 
choly. Melancholy is the foster mother of anger and re- 
venge. Until 1830, our statutory definition of lunatics was 
in the terms ^Ulisorderly persons, ivho, if left at large, 
might endanger the lives of others.'^ Our laws now regard 
them as merely disorderly and dangerous, and society acqui- 
esces, unless madness rise so high that the madman slays 
his imaginary enemy, and then he is pronounced sane. 

The learned gentlemen who conduct this prosecution have 
attempted to show that the prisoner attended the trial of 
Henry Wyatt, whom I defended against an indictment for 
murder, in this Court, in February last ; that he listened to 
me on that occasion in regard to the impunity of crime, and 
that he went out a ripe and a complete scholar. So far as 
these reflections affect me alone, they are unworthy of an 
answer. I pleaded for Wyatt then, as it was my right and 
my duty to do. Let the counsel for the people prove the 
words I spoke, before they charge me with Freeman's crimes. 
I am not unwilling those words should be recalled. I am 
not unwilling that any words I ever spoke in any responsi- 
ble relation should be remembered. Since they will not 
recall those words, I will do so for them. They were words 
like those I speak now, demanding cautious and impartial 
justice; words appealing to the reason, to the consciences, 
to the humanity of my fellow men ; words calculated to 
make mankind know and love each other better, and adopt 
the benign principles of Christianity, instead of the long- 
cherished maxims of retaliation and revenge. Regardless as 
I have been of the unkind construction of my words and 
actions by my cotemporaries, I can say in all humility of 



40 GOVERNOR SEWARD. 

spirit, that they are freely left to the ultimate, impartial con- 
sideration of mankind. You have now the fate of this lunatic 
in your hands. To him as to me, so far as we can judge, it 
is comparatively indifferent what be the issue. For aught 
that we can judge, the prisoner is unconscious of danger, and 
would be insensible to suffering, let it come when it might. 
A verdict can only hasten or retard, by a few months or 
years, the time when his bruised, diseased, wandering and 
benighted spirit shall return to Him who sent it forth on its 
sad and dreary pilgrimage. 

The circumstances under which this trial closes are pe- 
culiar. I have seen capital cases where the parents, brothers, 
sisters, friends of the accused, surrounded him, eagerly hang- 
ing upon the lips of his advocate, and watching, in the 
countenances of the Court and jury, every smile and frown 
which might seem to indicate his fate. But there is no such 
scene here. The prisoner, though in the greenness of youth, 
is withered, decayed, senseless, almost lifeless. He has no 
father here. The descendant of slaves, that father died a 
victim to the vices of a superior race. There is no mother 
here, for her child is stained and polluted with the blood of 
mothers and of a sleeping infant ; and he " looks and laughs 
so that she cannot bear to look upon him." There is no 
brother, or sister, or friend here. Popular rage against the 
accused has driven them hence, and scattered his kindred 
and people. On the other side I notice the aged and vene- 
rable parents of Van Nest and his surviving children, and 
all around are mourning and sympathising friends. I know 
not at whose instance they have come. I dare not say they 
ought not to be here. But I must say to you that we live in 
a Christian and not in a savage state, and that the affliction 
which has fallen upon these mourners and us, was sent to 
teach them and us mercy and not retaliation ; that although 
we may send this maniac to the scaflbld, it will not recall to 
life the manly form of Van Nest, nor reanimate the exhausted 
frame of that aged matron, nor restore to life, and grace, and 
beauty, the murdered mother, nor call back the infant boy 
from the arms of his Saviour. Such a verdict can do no 
good to the living, and carry no joy to the dead. If your 
judgment shall be swayed at all by sympathies so wrono-, 
although so natural, you will find the saddest hour of your 
life to be that in which you Avill look down upon the grave 
ol your victim, and "mourn with compunctious sorrow" 



GOVERNOR SEWARD. 41 

that you should have done so great injustice to the "poor 
handiui of earth that will lie mouldering before you." 

I have been long and tedious. I remember that it is the 
harvest moon, and that every hour is precious while you 
are detained from your yellow fields. But if you shall have 
bestowed patient attention throughout this deeply interesting 
investigation, and shall in the end have discharged your 
duties in the fear of God and in the love of truth, jusdy and 
independently, you will have laid up a store of blessed 
recollections for all your future days, imperishable and inex- 
haustible. 



EXTRACT FROM THE PROCEEDINGS IN THE SUPREME 
COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, ON THE EXTENSION 
OF PATENT CASE. 

James G. Wilsok 

versus 

Lewis Rousseau and Charles Eastost. 

OPENING ARGUMENT FOR THE PLAINTIFF BY 
WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 

Where there is no assignment or testamentary direction, 
choses in action, whether legal or equitable, and whether 
absolute or contingent, always pass by mere operation of 
law to the personal representative of a deceased owner, 
without any words of perpetuity. An administrator, although 
not "nominated" in the obligation, may sue on a bond 
executed to his intestate, whether the bond be for the pay- 
ment of money, or for the performance of a condition. So 
any personal right, whether arising by express agreement 
or by mere implication of law, whether absolute or condi- 
tional, or contingent, may be asserted with the same effect 
by an executor as by the party to whom in life the right 
belonged. No property becomes extinct by operation of 
law on the death of the owner ; nor does the State seize any 
property, or transfer it to others than those to whom the 
owner expressly or impliedly devotes it. The adminis- 
trator's right of succession to personal property is as abso- 
lute and universal as the right of succession of heirs to real 
estate. These rights are essentially the same in principle. 
Heirs at law succeed direcdy to the inheritance of real 
estate. They succeed by the intervention of the adminis- 



42 GOVERNOR SEWARD. 

trator to the enjoyment of personal property. A.nd this 
transmissibility of all property and rights is so universal that 
it has only one limitation. The law limits to a party him- 
self the right to redress for mere injuries to his person or 
character. That right ceases on the death of either the 
wrong doer or the sufferer, but all other rights survive. The 
entire policy of civilized communities, and even of despotic 
States, is opposed to seizure or confiscation of the property 
of the citizen at his death. On the other hand, all property, 
whether real or personal, is permitted to pass, in compliance 
with what seems to be a dictate of natural justice, to those 
whom the owner shall have elected as his successors or 
representatives. And if he make no such election, the law 
nevertheless, reads and regards his unexpressed afiection, 
and transfers his estate to those who, by reason of their 
consanguinity, are presumed to be nearest in his love. 

Man, in a civilized state, cannot altogether die. Adminis- 
tration is the execution of the last will and testament, which 
the law infers every citizen would have made had time and 
circumstances favoured. It is not an ordinance of human 
society, but a decree of the Creator, which provides that, as 
we bring nothing into the worid, so we can take nothing out 
of it. Society attempts to mitigate the hardship of this law 
by giving to every member of the state a legal continuance 
here after death ; and recognizes him in his children, his 
heirs, or his creditors. And this is in harmony with all the 
motives and affections of our race. It is not for ourselves, 
chiefly, that we live or labour, but for those whom Provi- 
dence has committed to our care and who are destined to 
survive us. 

Is national injustice to the dead less censurable than to the 
living? Is living genius discouraged less by neglect of the 
children and the memory of public benefactors, than by neg- 
lect of such benefactors themselves ? Is the Inventor stimu- 
lated less than other men by rewards of his labour proffered 
to his children ? Far otherwise. There is eminent justice 
in securing to the children of authors and inventors the fruits 
of their genius, for it is property acquired exclusively by 
their own efforts. It confers distinction, and often, enduring 
renown, while certainly no children in the commonwealth 
more deserve to be secured in their paternal possessions than 
those of parents whose intellectual labours were devoted to 
the improvement and happiness of their countrymen and of 
mankind. Indifference to wealth, and ill regulated economy, 



GOVERNOR SEWARD. 43 

are very common traits of men distinguished for genius and 
invention ; and it would be a mockery of national magna- 
nimity and justice to offer the extension of a patent to the 
unrewarded inventor while in life and yet plead his death in 
abatement of an application for an extension on behalf of his 
children. The construction insisted upon by our adver- 
saries does violence to our sentiments of justice. The com- 
monwealth has received the consideration, a beneficial con- 
sideration, by the discovery. It pays an equivalent to the 
inventor. Would it not be absurd, would it not be capri- 
cious, to say that the equivalent shall be conferred on the 
inventor if he live fourteen years, but shall be denied him if 
he die before that time ? This construction does violence to 
the common sentiments of humanity. In all ages mankind 
have been prone to continue their gratitude to the descend- 
ants of their benefactors. Hence, reversals of attainder, 
restorations of confiscated estates to the children of persons 
unjustly convicted, hereditary titles and domains, and all 
the splendid structures of monarchies and aristocracies. Our 
constitution and laws have guarded against all such abuses 
and dangerous institutions, but it has not been thought neces- 
sary to select the children of the great and the good and set 
them apart for peculiar and distinguished injustice. 

The American continent seems to be rapidly falling under 
the political sway of our confederacy. The habitations of 
an hundred millions of people are to be erected by our arti- 
sans. Wood worth's machine reduces, in the proportion of 
seven tenths, the labour and expense of a necessary part of 
every structure, whether for use or ornament. If this argu- 
ment seem to have been prolonged to a great length, I hope 
the offence may find an apology in the importance of secur- 
ino- to the children of the inventor the reward allotted by a 
grateful country for so distinguished a benefaction. 



EXTRACT FROM THE INTRODUCTION TO THE NATURAL 

HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 

BY THE HONOURABLE WM. H. SEWARD. 

"There is scarcely more resemblance between the press 
as it now exists, and that institution as it was at the close of 
the Revolution, than between the present aspect of our inland 
regions and the forest garb they wore while inhabited only 



44 GOVERNOR SEWARD. 

by the Iroquois. Then the art, employed chiefly in print- 
ing the colonial statutes, almanacks, occasional sermons, and 
volumes of devotional psalmody, and publishing a semi- 
weekly record of events, was only auxiliary, in the hands of 
its managers, to the more important object of selling books, 
pamphlets, stationery, and sometimes other merchandise: 
now, labour saving machines, with mechanical and brute 
power, are substituted for the arm of the pressman, and with 
the aid of stereotype foundries, the press has departments, 
distinctly separated, and as numerous as the divisions, and 
sub-divisions, classes, combinations, interests, occupations, 
studies and tastes of society. The book press seizes with 
avidity all wqw publications, whether designed to instruct or 
only to amuse, whether foreign or domestic, and prints and 
re-prints, and scatters them over the continent with incon- 
ceivable rapidity. Works of fiction most adapted to the 
popular taste are now printed and sold, at prices less than, 
fifty years ago, were charged to subscribers for the perusal 
of such volumes by circulating libraries. The commercial 
press, morning and evening, records with accuracy every 
occurrence and every indication which affect trade ; and the 
advertising columns are indispensable auxiliaries in every 
operation of commerce or finance. The political press, 
divided between contending parties, and again sub-divided 
with nice adaptation to the tempers and the tastes, the pas- 
sions and the prejudices of the community, conducts party 
warfare with energy, zeal and unsparing severity; and the 
combatants, faithful through all changes, abide the trials and 
share the fortunes of their respective parties. The religious 
press furnishes to Jew and Christian, Protestant and Catho- 
lic, and to each of the sects and denominations of those 
grand divisions of the Church, a devoted organ more efiective 
than an army of Missionaries. The moral, the scientific, the 
literary, the legal, the medical, the agricultural, the military, 
the abolition, the temperance, the colonization and the asso- 
ciation newspapers each represent a portion of society de- 
sirous to inculcate peculiar views of truth, and promote 
reforms which it deems essential to the general welfare. 
The emigrants from every foreign country communicate 
with each other through organs furnished by the press, and 
preserve mutual sympathies and endearing recollections of 
their father lands. The press was dependent on European 
facts, sentiments, opinions, tastes and customs: noiv it is in 
all things independent and purely American. It ivas metro- 



GOVERNOR SEWARD, 45 

politan : now it is universal. Tiie newspaper in each im- 
portant town conveys intelligence of all interesting incidents 
which occur within its vicinity, to the central press, and 
receives in return and diffuses information gathered from all 
portions of the world. 

" The press studies carefully the condition of all classes, 
and yields its reports with such a nice adaptation of prices 
as to leave no portion of the community without information 
concerning all that can engage their curiosity or concern their 
welfare. It no longer fears the odious information^ or the 
frowns of power ; but dictates with boldness to the govern- 
ment, and combines and not unfrequently forms the pubhc 
opinion which controls everything. Yet the press is not 
despotic. Its divisions distract its purposes, and prevent a 
concentration of its powers upon any one object. That the 
newspaper press is capricious and often licentious will 
scarcely be denied ; yet if it assails, it arms the party as- 
saulted with equal weapons of defence, and yields redress 
for the injuries it inflicts. 

" The ability, learning and spirit with which the press is 
now conducted, strikingly contrast with the dulness and 
superficial learning of its earlier period. Its editors, no longer 
regarded as mere chroniclers of events or pains taking me- 
chanics, hold rank as a liberal profession, and exert a just 
influence upon the multifarious interests of society. Nor 
are the sweeping allegations of indecorum, venality and vio- 
lence brought against the press in any sense just. That it 
sometimes offends propriety, decency and candour, is unhap- 
pily too true, but it reflects in all things the character of the 
country ; and while the ignorant, the prejudiced, the malevo- 
lent and the vulgar cannot be deprived of its weapons, it never 
withholds its resistless influence from truth, wisdom, justice 
and virtue. Every improvement of the public morals, and 
every advance of the people in knowledge, is marked by a 
corresponding elevation of the moral and intellectual stan- 
dard of the press ; and it is at once the chief agent of intel- 
lectual improvement, and the Palladium of civil and religious 
Liberty." 



46 



THE HONOURABLE WILLIAM H. HAYWOOD, 
Late Senator for North Carolixa, a?jd Chairmak of the Comjiit- 

TEE of CoiVIMERCE IN THE SeNATE. 

Mr. Haywood is a man of great elegance. His deport- 
ment and address are very distinguished, and he is perfect in 
all the recognised conventionalisms of polished life. No 
one understands better how to render social intercourse agree- 
able ; he encourages amusement, enjoys conversation, both 
grave and gay, and his compliments are always gratifying, 
for they are in good taste, and never exceed the " modesty of 
nature." He speaks excellent English, his enunciation is 
fluent, the liquids being fully articulated, and he possesses 
one of those musical voices so usually heard in southern 
climates. I have observed that the vibration of the letter S 
is somewhat more audible and prolonged in the dialect of 
the Southern states of America than it is either in England 
or in the other sections of the Union. Without knowing; 
that such is the fact, 1 should imagine Mr. Haywood to be 
descended from the blood of the cavaliers; his handsome 
features, his scrupulous attention to dress, and especially the 
natural (perhaps somewhat negligent) though graceful ease 
of his manners, combined with his chivalrous devotion to 
the fair sex, and success in the drawing room, all remind me 
of the descriptions we read of those high bred spirits. I quote 
Mr. Haywood, therefore, as an admirable specimen, among 
many, of that Chesterfield refinement and tact which are so 
frequently supposed by Europeans to have as yet no exist- 
ence in America. This prejudice is directed, in a more espe- 
cial manner, against the popular party, and I am proud to 
controvert it by adding that the Senator from North Carolina 
is not only an accomplished gentleman, but that he is also an 
excellent and true-hearted Democrat. 

This Senator was highly esteemed for his attention to 
public business, and for singular industry in the discharge of 
its duties. He possesses many attainments, and is a scholar 
of taste and discrimination. 

The conduct of Mr. Haywood on the Free Trade ques- 
tion is highly honourable to him, exliibiting alike a con- 
scientious respect for the opinions of his constituents, and an 
independent assertion of his personal responsibility as a 



THE HON. WILLIAM H. HAYWOOD. 47 

member of the Legislature. " He Avas elected to the Senate 
at the close of the year 1842," says the National Intelli- 
gencer, " when the disagreements between the actual Presi- 
dent and the Whig party having for the time distracted and 
disheartened the Whigs of North Carolina, the Democratic 
party obtained a casual majority in the Legislature of 
the State. The political power of that State is now in the 
hands of the Whigs, and Mr. Haywood, had he voted for 
the new Tariff bill, would have voted against the known sen- 
timents of his State. Had he, on the other hand, voted 
against it, in order to conform to that sentiment, he would 
have voted, if not against his own opinion, against the pre- 
vailing opinion of his party. He resigned his seat, rather 
than violate his conscience on the one hand, or his obliga- 
tions on the other." 

Again : Mr. Webster remarks, in his speech on the 27th 
July, 1846:— 

" I infer that the honourable member left his seat here 
from an inability to support the measure of the administra- 
tion now before us, and from a great unwillingness to dis- 
oblige his party, friends and connections by voting against 
it." 

When the Tariff bill first came to the Senate, Mr. Hay- 
wood told Colonel Benton that he was opposed to it, and 
could not vote for it, unless it could be postponed and ren- 
dered perfect. 

Much as I grieved over one seceder from the side of the 
noble Calhoun, I cannot refuse my approbation to Haywood. 

Mr. Haywood's speech on the Oregon question produced 
an immense sensation, for he was regarded as the intimate 
personal friend of the President. I have always been of 
opinion that the President and the Secretary of State pursued 
the only wise and prudent course left to their choice. Fully 
impressed as I am with the conviction that the " whole of 
Oregon'^ is rightfully an Ainerican possession, and that at 
no distant period it will be so,* I am also equally of opinion 
that compromise was the sole line of policy which they 
would have been justified in adopting. And, though stead- 
fast in my faith on this point, I yet rejoice that Christian 
precept, good feeling, and good sense prevailed, and pre- 
vented the evils which, for a period, seemed to threaten the 

* These opinions I have held from first to last, and have expressed them 
in high places, both in America and England. 



48 THE HON. WILLIAM H. HAYWOOD. 

two countries. The vindication of the President is done by 
an able, faithful, and friendly hand. 



ABSTRACT FROM THE 

SPEECH OF HONOURABLE WILLIAM H. HAYWOOD, 

OF NORTH CAROLINA, 

On the Oregon Question, delivered in the Senate of the 
United States, 4:th and bth March, 1846. 

The joint resolution for giving the notice to terminate the 
convention betw^een the United States and Great Britain, 
relative to the Oregon Territory, being under consideration — 

Mr. Haywood addressed the Senate as follows : 

Mr. President: The subject before the Senate is an im- 
portant one. It will take me some time to explain my sen- 
timents ; but I throw myself upon the patience of the Senate, 
with a pledge that my heart shall be opened sincerely, at this 
the council board of our common country. 

The President of the United States who is authorized by 
the Constitution to make, but not to unmake treaties, has a 
negotiation on foot which was commenced or opened before 
his term of office began. The object of it has been to fix a 
line of division, by compromise, between the United States 
and Great Britain, and thereby to adjust the conflicting claims 
of the two Governments, to the territory lying west of the 
Stony Mountains, commonly called Oregon. I assume for 
the present — hereafter I will demonstrate — that in the view 
of our President, as well as the British Minister, the nego- 
tiation is still a pending one. The assumption is warranted 
by every incident of the subject in this country and in great 
Britain ; and it is confirmed beyond all fair doubt by the 
silence of the President upon that point, when, if the nego- 
tiation had terminated, executive silence would be unpardon- 
able ; the more especially as his jurisdiction over the subject 
will cease the moment negotiation ends. The negotiation 
once closed, concluded, put an end to, by the executive, all 
the remaining questions about Oregon will become forthwith 
subjects of legislation by Congress exclusively. 

First, we all know that the President — whose assent is 
indispensable — will not agree to an arbitration. I do not 
stop to defend or to accuse him for this ; it belongs to some 
other occasion. If, in the providence of God, this Oregon 



THE HON. WILLIAM H. HAYWOOD. 49 

controversy should terminate in a conflict, the responsibility 
of having rejected arbitration will be a fearful one, and he 
will have to meet it. But the responsibility has been taken 
by him. The Senate, therefore, must now proceed upon it 
as a fact, a " fixed fact," that arbitration is out of the ques- 
tion. We cannot help it if we would, and I owe it to can- 
dour to say, that / would not if I could. 

Well, then, we have seen in his Message that Great Bri- 
tain made an ofler of compromise which was rejected by the 
American Government, in August, 1844, and the President 
has informed Congress plainly and distinctly that this British 
proposition to us cannot be entertained by him, but that it is 
" wholly inadmissible." So far there is no difficulty. Every- 
thing is plain and directly to the point, as it ought to be. 

Next, we are informed by the Message that the President 
himself made an offer to Great Britain by which the terri- 
tory of Oregon between the parallels of 42° and 54° 40' was 
proposed to be divided by a cofnpromise on the Vuic of 49°, 
and that the British Minister rejected it without submitting 
any other proposition, &c. This offer of our President was 
made on the 12th of July, 1845 — refused on the 29th of the 
same month. But on the 30th of August, 1845, the Presi- 
dent withdrew his rejected proposition, and re-asserted, by 
his letter to the British Minister, our claim and title to the 
whole of Oregon — ivhich letter has not been answered! 

The President does not say that the negotiation has been 
abandoned, nor that it will be concluded by him without 
waiting to receive another offer. No such thing. He does 
not inform Congress that he will or will not renew, or that 
he will or will not entertain, his own offer, wliich he adopted 
as that of the nation, for a compromise. I repeat, that it 
was, under the circumstances, impossible for him to do that, 
provided he considered compromise still admissible. But he 
does say that he has receded, notwithstanding his opinion as 
to title, to the line of 49° as a compromise, and his reasons 
for it are given — reasons quite as conclusive in favor of ac- 
cepting the offer now as they were for making it last year ! 
And as I understand the President's position, he stands this 
day upon that line of 49° as a compromise, if compromise is 
to be had. Once for all, let me explain, that when I have 
spoken, or shall hereafter speak, of the " compromise line of 
49°," I do by no means intend to be understood literally. 
But I mean that line in substance — not " every inch." I 
mean the same compromise substantially which this Go- 
4 



50 THE HON. WILLIAM H. HAYWOOD. 

vernment has frequently offered, without regard to sliglit 
variations ; which may be left for settlement by " equiva- 
lents." I do not measure my own or other people's patriot- 
ism by the " inch." I shall not recognize that measurement 
in deciding upon the merits of the administration or the wis- 
dom of a treaty — not at all, at all. 

Mr. President: I disavow any autliority to speak for the 
President. I have already said that he could not speak for 
himself, nor authorize another to speak for him, so long as 
negotiation was pending or not concluded. Oh ! I wish it 
were so that he could speak out. But I must be allowed to 
speak for myself since the Administration has been so per- 
severingly put where I ought not to stand by it; and I will 
dare to speak to the President and of the President and his 
Messages, from my station upon this floor, as I judge him and 
them. And I say, in answer to certain Senators of my party, 
that the President did right, exactly right, in continuing this 
negotiation for a compromise which he found on foot, and in 
renewing the offer of 49° as a line of compromise. And in 
reply to them further, T say that he ought not, and my con- 
victions are as strong as death itself that he cannot, will not, 
disgrace himself and his Administration by refusing his own 
offer, should it be returned upon him — refusing, I mean, to 
entertain it; repulsing it, and rashly putting a final termina- 
tion to his negotiation for a peaceful compromise ; and madly 
forcing his country into a war, without even consulting his 
constitutional advisers, the Senate, who are this day assem- 
bled. Yet that is said of him day after day in this Senate. 
A war for what? Why, Mr. President, a war between two 
great Christian nations upon the meaning of the word settle- 
ments in the Nootka convention ! A war, perhaps, of twenty 
years, to determine which of these Christian Governments 
shall enjoy the privilege of cheating the poor Indians out of 
the largest portion of Oregon. No, sir; no sir. The Presi- 
dent will not do that. As he loves his country, and values 
his own fame, he dare not think of it. 

Again: He found that these persevering efforts to fix our 
northern boundary in Oregon at the forty-ninth parallel by a 
compromise — these well considered instructions to our Minis- 
ters, and often repeated propositions to the adverse claimants 
for a compromise, made before Spain had released her rights, 
and repeated afterwards, were long since exposed to the public 
eye ; and that neither the People's Representatives in Con- 
gress, nor the States, nor the People themselves, had com- 



THE HON. WILLIAM H. HAYWOOD. 51 

plained against the Presidents, and Statesmen and Senators 
who had been endeavouring to accomplish a compromise at 
49° for nearly half a century. No, sir. Until very recently 
indeed, the complaints, when made at all, were aimed at 
Great Britain for refusing to accept this reasonable and just 
compromise of our conflicting claims. Memorials, when 
sent at all, were applications to settle and adjust the contro- 
versy ; and our efforts to legislate over the subject were con- 
fined to the valley of the Columbia river, this side of 49°. 

Well might the President pause then, notwithstanding his 
own individual opinion that our title to the whole of Oregon 
was "clear and unquestionable," ere he took the responsi- 
bility, in view of all this, of abruptly putting a stop to the 
negotiation which he found on foot, as it had been begun by 
his immediate predecessor upon a negotiation for a compro- 
mise. Well might he feel that the nation was committed 
to a compromise. Well might he dread that for him to put 
his personal opinion upon the strength of our paper title, 
however " clear and unquestionable," against all these solemn 
acts of the Government, and against this concurrent action 
and acquiescence of all our Presidents from Jefferson inclu- 
sive, and of all our Statesmen, and of all our Senators, and 
of all our People and their Representatives for two genera- 
tions, constituting, as it were, a nation's opinion, would be 
sacrificing the faith, consistency, sincerity and honour of this 
country to preserve the personal consistency of himself — a 
single man ! A mere politician might have halted, but a 
STATESMAN could uot. He lifted himself above himself, and 
showed how well he merits the office his country has ap- 
pointed him to fill. God grant he may stand firm to his 
position ! 

I honour that Statesman who can go whither the honour 
of his country carries him, forgetful of himself and his per- 
sonal convenience, or the consistency of his mere opinion. 
Had Mr. Polk repeated his opinion of our " clear and un- 
questionable" title for an Amen to his daily prayers for 
years and years together, it would still have been the duty 
of the PRESIDENT to go to the line of 49° as a compromise, if 
he believed, as he says he did, that his country was " com- 
mitted," and the honour and faith of the nation bade him go 
there. 

Without going into our title to the territory, (which, if the 
Senate choose, can be done hereafter, and whenever the bill 
for taking jurisdiction over Oregon, or " any portion of it," 



52 THE HON. WILLIAM H. HAYWOOD. 

comes up for consideration) I will tell you, in very few 
words, the ground of right upon which (if there were no 
other) I would put my vindication. I believe it is the politi- 
cal right of my country to stretch itself, without any inter- 
ruption by foreign Governments, from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific — from sea to sea on this continent — according as we 
ourselves shall judge it expedient or not. That we acquired 
that right upon this continent when our Independence was 
established, subject only to the proviso, that we must not do 
it so as to deny the like privilege to our neighbours, nor 
interfere with settlements permanently made before our Inde- 
pendence was established, nor with similar rights belonging 
to or acquired by them, nor act with injustice to the Mo- 
rigines. What we claim a right to do, we must not deny 
to the Canadas. It is a sort of national pre-emption right 
to both. Great Britain cannot righteously complain so long 
as we do not deny to her, as the mother country of the 
Canadas, the same right equally with ourselves. She can- 
not rightfully interrupt our enjoyment of that right. And if 
she does, then we cannot submit to it. Our dividing line is 
at 49° on this side of the mountains ; and if it is straightened 
to the Pacific on the other in harmony, we ought to be satis- 
fied. In settling that line between the two governments, the 
great law of "love and good will to man" requires conces- 
sions for equivalents, to be agreed for by mutual consent, 
and they should be mutually made for the convenience of 
each other; and these are fit subjects for friendly nego- 
tiation. 

The bill for extending our jurisdiction over Oregon need 
not to be, as it ought not to be, adopted, until we see, what 
more the President will do, and what Great Britain means 
to do. And this Senate ought not to adjourn until we know 
whether we are to have peace or a sword. It shall not by 
my vote. 

Mr. President : My hands are clean— my heart is easy — 
my conscience is unburdened ; and if I have done anything 
for good, I shall rejoice — if not, I have tried to do it. And 
having confidence in God stronger than any "confidence in 
princes," I pray that He who rules the destiny of nations 
may guide our counsels so as to save the peace of my be- 
loved country, and protect it forever by His mighty arm in 
the enjoyment oi liberty and religion. 



53 



THE HONOURABLE HUGH WHITE, 

Of the State of New York, Member of Congress for the Districts 
OF Saratoga, Schenectady, Fulton, and part of Hamilton. 

The history of Mr. White, as I have received it from 
himself, is the best clue to his character ; developing, as it 
does at once, his honest independence and his success in 
life. "Until the age of nineteen," said he, "I followed the 
plough. About that time an incident occurred which proba- 
bly has contributed much to the formation of my character, 
and, by the aid of the free institutions of this country, to the 
attainment of my present position in life. 

" I set off one summer morning in my best attire, and with 
a small knapsack on my back, to visit the Falls of Niagara. 
As a matter of course I took up my abode at the Hotel, and 
at dinner, as a matter of course also, I seated myself at the 
table, neither knowing nor heeding who were my neighbours. 
A gentleman (I believe I must acknowledge that he was an 
Englishman) immediately called the proprietor of the Hotel, 
and told him that he would not sit at the table with me. I pre- 
sume that the ungenteel cut of my coat, maybe my toilworn 
hands, offended his delicacy. Be this as it may, the host 
declared that he could not separate his guests; that I paid 
the same sum that others did, and that he could dismiss no 
man from his table except for ill conduct. The gentleman 
then desired his servant 'to send me of!'.' I rose from my 
seat to defend myself, and thus replied to the insolent stran- 
ger. 'I know not whom I address; but the moment your 
servant approaches me, I shall knock down his master, who 
is responsible for this gross insult to an honest man.' My 
sturdy rustic frame and determination recalled this gentleman 
to his senses ; he retired from the contest, and reseated him- 
self: we resumed our respective places. Dinner passed 
over; supper passed over in silence, but without annoyance 
on either side. In the morning the good sense of the man 
prevailed, and coming up to me, he apologised for his rude- 
ness, and, in terms of friendship, requested my hand, which 
I need not say was given in the same spirit. By this trial I 
was strengthened in self-respect and the consciousness of 
worth, and I acquired a feeling of ambition. Returning 



54 THE HON. JOHN Y. MASON. 

home, I applied with diligence to the improvement of my 
fortune and the advancement of my station. How far my 
efforts have been crowned with success, it is for others, not 
for me, to say." 

To this modest and truthful relation I have to add, that 
Mr. White, in personal appearance, dress, manners and mode 
of speaking, is truly a gentleman ; that he is considered a 
man of perfect faith and integrity ; that he ever defends the 
absent ; that he blames none for holding opinions different 
to his own, and that he is a sincere lover and upholder of 
justice. 

Mr. White is a Whig, and his principles are very strongly 
impressed upon his mind, and also very strongly put forth in 
argument. I have a suspicion that he thinks Whigs in gene- 
ral better men than Democrats ; but if the cause of humanity 
or friendship is to be served, these feelings weigh not in the 
balance. He has warmly espoused the cause of the Indians, 
and proposed that they should be allowed to appoint their 
own preachers and officers ; also that provision be made for 
paying the money appropriated for them faithfully, and 
securing it to their use. Dr. Loras, the Roman Catholic 
Bishop of Dubuque, in the Territory of Iowa, obtained his 
friendly aid in behalf of the hapless Winnebagos. 



THE HONOURABLE JOHN Y. MASON, 

Late ATTORXEX-GEifERAL OF THE UxiTED States, Now Secretart 

OF the Navy. 

Mason is the idol of Washington; ever spoken of with 
respect and esteem, ever welcomed with pleasure. He is a 
Virginian by birth as well as by residence ; hospitable, gene- 
rous, and confiding. His conversation is replete with excel- 
lent sense and social gay good humour; and his countenance, 
without regularity of feature, or pretension to good looks, is 
lighted up by the most charming expression imaginable. The 
slightest attention which he offers derives, from the kindness 
of his manner, an inexpressible grace; and though my own 
acquaintance witb the Judge has been less intimate than with 
many other distinguished men in Washington, I have found 



THE HON. ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 55 

that all who possess the privilege of knowing him, concur in 
these feelings and impressions of mine. 

Judge Mason was called from the Bench to take the post 
of Secretary of the Navy in Mr. Tyler's Cabinet, and in his 
administration of this department he is said to have excelled. 
The officers of the service are universally attached to him.* 
He is the only member of Mr. Tyler's Cabinet who was in- 
vited to a seat in Mr. Polk's ; and during the interval of his 
removal from the Navy Department and his return to it, 
he discharged the office of Attorney-General of the United 
States. 

The Secretary of the Navy is, of course, a follower of the 
Democratic banner; hut his views are not extreme, and he is 
entirely free from the narrow jealousies of party feeling. 
The south of Virginia is his home; he is the father of a 
numerous family, and the owner of slaves, who are happy in 
his service, and would not change it for their freedom. 



THE HONOURABLE ABBOTT LAWRENCE, OF BOSTON. 

How many delightful recollections are awakened by this 
name, and how many happy hours have I spent in the house 
and in the society of this accomplished gentleman and princely 
merchant. The author of his own fortunes, Mr. Lawrence 
makes the wisest and most liberal use of his wealth ; his purse 
is ever open to aid in supporting public charities and im- 
provements; in promoting objects of national usefulness and 
honour, and in adorning the metropolis of New England, the 
Corinthian pillar of the State, with institutions for the increase 
alike of her beauty and of her prosperity. Nor are his pri- 
vate benefactions on a less liberal scale ; they are equally 
honourable to his heart, and becoming the position of so dis- 
tinguished and influential a citizen of the Republic ; he is as 

* Tn corroboration of this remark I have extracted the following from a 
New York paper : — 

Visit to the Secretary of the Navy. — A Washington letter, of the 
14th instant, says : — A large number of the officers of the Navy, of all 
grades, were received by the Hon. J. Y. Mason, in his room, at the Navy 
Department, this morning. Never did man receive a heartier welcome, 
nor one more deserved. The juniors would have huzzaed if the seniors 
had given the command. 



56 THE HON. ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

earnest to pour the oil and wine upon the wounded stranger 
by the way side, as he is to raise up enduring and useful 
monuments to science.* The residence of Mr. Lawrence is 
adorned with finished taste ; no vulgar display of overloaded 
magnificence, but that subdued elegance and exquisite atten- 
tion to comfort which the most refined of French authors 
describes as the chief attractions of luxury ; books and sculp- 
ture are here the constant every day companions of the 
dwellers in those pleasant halls : and every domestic arrange- 
ment is faultless. 

Mr. Lawrence has read and travelled much; he is well 
versed in the science of human life; has a thorough know- 
ledge of statistics, and the experience which he has derived 
from comparing the institutions and society of other countries, 
with those of America, renders his conclusions highly inte- 
resting. He formerly represented the city of Boston in 
Congress, but delicacy of health obliged him to resign this 
duty, to the great regret of his fellow citizens. He is of 
graceful address ; the expression of his face highly intelligent 
and amiable, and his features very handsome. The American 
forehead is almost always well formed, and that of Mr. Law- 
rence clearly denotes the immense superiority of the intel- 
lectual over the physical nature. His language is well chosen, 
and his ideas always expressed with clearness; his politics 
are Whig; his religion Episcopalian. But the opinions he 
entertains on all subjects result from careful investigation 
and deliberate conviction. No bigotry, intolerance, party 
feeling or blind passion could ever darken a mind so patient 
in reflection, so scrupulous in inquiry, and so just and gene- 
rous in its conclusions. The name of this excellent man 
and citizen is known and respected throughout the Union, 
and strangers esteem it a privilege to be admitted to his in- 
timacy; they are ever justly appreciated and hospitably en- 
tertained. 

Powers and Healy have each exerted their skill in pour- 
traying Mr. Lawrence ; the one in m.arble and the other on 
canvass : both have been successful ; but as I prefer form to 
colour, the chisel to the pencil, I admire the marble most. 

It may be said that Mr. Lawrence has more repose of cha- 

* Amherst College. — Hon. Abbott Lawrence, of Boston, has recently 
made a donation of 1000 dollars towards the erection of a fire proof Cabinet 
and Observatory, which it is proposed to build on the hill in front of Am- 
herst College. Amherst is a town nearly a hundred miles distant from 
Boston, where Mr. Lawrence resides. 



THE HON. ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 57 

racter than is usual in the men of America, for they are the 
most excitable of all nations; and this peculiarity in him may 
perhaps be traced to his early success in life, and to his com- 
prehensive knowledge of the world ; ere he had yet attained 
the meridian of life, wealth, honour, love, obedience, troops 
of friends had waited on him. During a recent visit to the 
Metropolis I had the pleasure of seeing the distinguished 
namesake of Mr. Lawrence of Boston, William Lawrence, 
Esq. of White Hall Place, London. We spoke of oar mu- 
tual friend across the Adantic. "He is indeed," said he, "a 
most remarkable man; one who would be striking in all com- 
panies: I recall with the greatest pleasure his visit to Ealing, 
when he and his family were in London." Certainly if 
these two admirable men are not related to each other they 
ought to be. 



EXTRACTS FROM MR. LAWRENCE'S LETTER TO MR. RIVES 

ON THE TARIFF. 

Boston, 16/A January, 1846. 

There is a prevalent idea abroad, that the capital of the 
country will suffer exceedingly by a revulsion in its business, 
and that the tariff of 1842 has operated in favour of the capi- 
tal, and not the labour, of the country. There can be no 
doubt that capital is generally profitably and safely employed, 
and well paid. The profits of capital are low when wages 
are low ; but capital has usually had the power to take care 
of itself, and does not require the aid of Congress to place it 
in any other position than to put the labour in motion. Con- 
gress should legislate for the labour, and the capital will take 
care of itself. * * * *^ * 

In Virginia and other Southern States, and even at the. 
West, many persons have believed that the protective system 
was made by and for New England, and that New England, 
and particularly Massachusetts, could not thrive without it. 
Now this is an error; the South and West began the system 
of high protective duties for the purpose of creating a market 
for their produce, (although the principle of discrimination 
was recoo^nized and established when the first tariff was en- 
acted.) It is not true that we are more dependent on a pro- 
tective tariff than the Middle, Western, or Southern States. 
Those States that possess the smallest amount of capital are 
the most benefited by a protective tariff. We have in New 



58 THE HON. ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

England' a great productive power; in Massachusetts far 
greater than any other, in state proportion to population. We 
have a hardy, industrious and highly intelligent population, 
with a perseverance that seldom tires, and we have also ac- 
quired a considerable amount of skill, which is increasing 
every day; besides, we have already accomplished a mag- 
nificent system of intercommunication between all parts of 
this section of the country by railroads ; this is the best kind 
of productive power, having reduced the rate of carriage to a 
wonderful extent : this being done, we have money enough 
remaining to keep all our labour employed, and prosecute 
our foreign and domestic commerce without beino- in debt 

a to 

beyond the limits of our own State. Now, I ask, how we 
shall stand, compared with Pennsylvania, Ohio, Alabama, 
Georgia or Louisiana when the day of financial trial shall 
come ? I do not deny that we shall sufl^er ; but, as it has 
been in times past, we shall go into and come out of the trou- 
bles far stronger than any other State out of New England. 
It is not my purpose to present to you the balance sheet of 
Massachusetts, but it is due to her character and her dignity 
that she should stand before you in her true position. I have 
never advocated a protective tariff for my own or the New 
England States exclusively, nor have those gentlemen with 
whom I have been associated in this cause, at any time enter- 
tained a narrow or sectional view of the question. We have 
believed it to be for the interest of the whole country that its 
labour should be protected, and so far as I have had to do 
with the adjustment of those difficult combinations embraced 
in a tariff' bill, I have endeavoured to take care that the in- 
terests of all the States were protected, whether they were 
large or small. I say now to you, and it should be said in 
Congress, and to the country, that Massachusetts asks no ex- 
clusive legislation. If Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio, 
the three great States, with Kentucky, Georgia, Missouri, 
Alabama and Louisiana, wish to try an experiment on iron, 
coal, hemp, cotton bagging, sugar, &:c. &:c., I am ready, as 
one citizen of Massachusetts, to meet it, and await in patient 
submission the result, whicli I doubt not will be found, within 
eighteen months, in the realization of all I have predicted. I 
say again, I would not, if I could, have a tariff" made for 
Massachusetts alone. If, however, there should be a new 
one, let our interests, with those of every other in the Union, 
share that protection to which we are all entitled, and of 
which we claim our full share. I can with confidence assure 



THE HON. THOMAS H. BENTON. 59 

you, that we shall go upward and onward. We ivill 7vork. 
If twelve hours' labour in the twenty-four will not sustain 
us, we can and will work fourteen; and at the same time feel 
that Congress cannot take the sinews from our arms, or rob 
us of the intelligence acquired from our system of public 
schools, established by the foresight and wisdom of our 
fathers. 



THE HONOURABLE THOMAS H. BENTON, 

MeMBEK of the SEJfATE FOK THE StATE OF MISSOURI. 

The name of Mr. Benton is inseparably connected with 
that of Missouri. To him the West, the fair land of pro- 
mise, is deeply indebted, for wisely and lovingly he has ever 
watched over her interests, and devoted his energies to her 
cause. None is more thoroughly versed in the circumstances, 
historical, political and actual, of her position, and with 
effective eloquence he has vindicated her rights; with lofty 
faith and hope he has anticipated the eventful future, and 
has traced, in hues of light, the dawn of that day when the 
American race shall be one name, one language, and one 
people, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 

Mr. Benton has been, for a period of twenty-seven years, 
a representative in the Federal Government of the United 
States. He possesses much weight in the Senate, and is 
considered a man of excellent judgment, of bold and original 
views and of statesmanlike practice. He is attached to the 
Democratic side, and is more of a sectional than of a party 
politician. The considerations of national power and ex- 
tension are, perhaps, more highly estimated by Mr. Benton 
than those of wealth; he is the representative of a peculiar 
policy, arising naturally from the situation of an infant 
country, whose instincts, in the first stages of development, 
must be those of growth and occupancy. Mr. Benton, never- 
theless, has too much experience and too much wisdom to 
indulge in extremes, and his expectations and demands on 
the Oregon Question were marked by great moderation. 

In his public deportment, and especially when speaking, 
he has much senatorial dignity — is rarely excited; his action 



60 THE HON. THOMAS H. BENTON. 

and gesture are expressive; his speech slow. In personal 
[appearance he has much of the Englishman; is of a robust 
and muscular frame, somewhat inclined to corpulency; his 
features have also more of the English than of the American 
character;* the nose is broader, the nostrils more expanded, 
the lips more full, and the mouth less wide than is usual in 
L the American contour. The habitual expression of his coun- 
tenance is calm and elevated. The forehead is very mas- 
sive; and I have seen in New York, at an artist's house, a 
bust of Mr. Benton, in which the neck and chest were of 
very large proportions ; he has that gentle self-possession 
x^ of manner which is so usual in those who are conscious of 
superior strength. 

Mr. Benton possesses great acquirements: the various 
studies of language, history, philosophy and the belles lettres 
he has made doubly his own by acquirement and by use. 
He speaks on all topics openly and freely, and invariably 
listens with attention to the remarks of others. A daughter 
of the Senator from Missouri is married to the able and 
spirited Captain Fremont, whose " Exploring Expeditions to 
the Rocky Mountains" are so full of interest. 



EXTRACTS FROM THE SPEECH OF MR. BENTON, ON THE 

OREGON QUESTION. 

Delivered ijt the Sen^ate in May, 1846. 

The value of the country, I mean the Columbia river and 
its valley, (I must repeat the limitation every time, lest I be 

P * If asked to define the general characteristics of the American face 
and figure, I should say that they are a taller and slighter race than the 
English; their hands and feet are more delicately formed, the shoulders 
are more falling, the neck has more length and less thickness, their limbs 
are longer, and the step is more rapid than that of their forefathers. The 
mouth appears to me the most distinguishing feature ; it is wider, and the 
lips are thinner, than is observed here; the nose is handsomer, being 
better defined from the cheek than the English nose. An intelligent eve, 

l^the usual result of education, is almost universal in the United States; 
and as every American is a thinking being, so the forehead bears the 
impression of the ideas within ; the cheek is less exuberant, and the form 
of the face, from the ear to the chin, is angular rather than rounded. The 
hair is of luxuriant growth, and generally brown in colour. On the whole, 
I have thought that there is more pervading national resemblance among 

i, the Americans than among the English, which is singular, because they 
are a more recent, as well as a more varied, amalgamation of many na- 
tions than we are. Of the women I shall now say no more than that they 
are very, very lovely. 



THE HON. THOMAS H. BENTON. 61 

carried up to 54° 40') has been questioned on this floor and 
elsewhere. It has been supposed to be of little value, 
hardly worth the possession, much less the acquisition, and 
treated rather as a burden to be got rid of, than as a benefit 
to be preserved. This is a great error, and one that only 
prevails on this side of the water; the British know better, 
and if they held the tithe of our tide they would fight the 
world for what we depreciate. It is not a worthless coun- 
try, but one of immense value, and that under many aspects, 
and will be occupied by others, to our injury and annoyance, 
if not by ourselves for our own benefit and protection. 
Forty years ago it was written by Humboldt that the banks 
of the Columbia presented the only situation on the north- 
west coast of America fit for the residence of a civilized 
people. Experience has confirmed the truth of this wise 
remark. 

It is valuable, both as a country to be inhabited and as a 
position to be held and defended. I speak of it, first, as a 
position, commanding the North Pacific ocean, and over- 
looking the eastern coast of Asia. The North Pacific is a 
rich sea, and is already the seat of a great commerce ; Bri- 
tish, French, American, Russian, and ships of other nations 
frequent it. Our whaling ships cover it, our ships of war 
go there to protect our interest, and, great as that interest now 
is, it is only the beginning. Futurity will develop an im- 
mense and various commerce on that sea, of which the far 
greater part will be American. That commerce, neither in 
the merchant ships which carry it on, nor in the military 
marine which protects it, can find a port, to call its own, 
within twenty thousand miles of the field of its operations. 
The double length of the two Americas has to be run, a 
stormy and tempestuous cape to be doubled, to find itself in 
a port of its own country, while here lies one in the very 
edge of its field, ours by right, ready for use, and ample for 
every purpose of refuge and repair, protection and domina- 
tion. Can we turn our back upon it? and, in turning the 
back, deliver it up to the British? Insane and suicidal would 
be the fatal act ! 

To say nothing of the daily want of such a port in time 
of peace, its want in time of war becomes ruinous. If we 
abandon, England w^ill retain ! And her w^ooden walls, 
bristling with cannon, and issuing from the mouth of the 
Columbia, will give the law to the North Pacific, permitting 
our ships to sneak about in time of peace — sinking, seizing, 



62 THE HON. THOMAS H. BENTON. 

or chasing them away in time of war. As a position, then, 
and if nothing but a rock or desert point, the possession of 
the Cohimbia is invaluable to us ; and it becomes our duty 
to maintain it at all hazards. 

Agriculturally the value of the country is great ; and, to 
understand it in all its extent, this large country should be 
contemplated under its different divisions — the threefold natu- 
ral geographical divisions under which it presents itself: the 
maritime, the middle, and the mountain districts. 

The maritime region, the fertile part of it, is the long val- 
ley between the Cascade and the coast ranges of mountains, 
extending from the head of the Wah-lah-math, near the lati- 
tude of 42 degrees, to the Straits of Fuca, near latitude 49. 
In this valley lies the rich tide water region of the Columbia. 
It is nearly five hundred miles long, north and south, and 
above one hundred wide, rich in soil, grass and timber, suffi- 
cient of itself to constitute a respectable State, and now the 
seat of the British commercial and military post of Van- 
couver, and of their great farming establishment of Nisqually. 

The middle district, from the Cascade range to near the 
base of the Rocky Mountains, is the region called desert, 
and which, in the imaginations of many, has given character 
to the whole country. In some respects it is a desert ; bar- 
ren of wood, sprinkled with sandy plains, melancholy under 
the sombre aspect of the gloomy artemisia, and desolate from 
volcanic rocks, through the chasms of which plunge the 
headlong streams. But this desert has its redeeming points 
— much water, grass, many oases, mountains capped with , 
snow to refresh the air, the land and the eye, blooming 
valleys, a clear sky, pure air and a supreme salubrity. It is 
the home of the horse ! found there wild in all the perfection 
of his first nature, beautiful and fleet, fiery and docile, patient, 
enduring and affectionate. General Clark has told me that 
of the one hundred and seventy horses which he and Lewis 
obtained in this district he had never seen their match in any 
equal number, and he had seen the finest which the sporting 
course or the warlike parade had exhibited in Virginia. It 
is the home of that horse, the horse of Persia, which gallops 
his eighty miles a day, swimming the rivers as he comes to 
them ; finds his own food at night, the hoof scraping away 
the snow when it hides the grass; gallops his eighty miles 
again the next day, and so on through a long and healthy 
life ; carrying his master in the chase or the fight ; circum- 
venting the game and pursuing the foe with the intelligence 



THE HON. THOMAS H. BENTON. 63 

of reason and the fidelity of friendship. General Clark has 
informed me that it was necessary to keep a scout ahead to 
drive away the elk and buffalo, at the sight of which all their 
horses immediately formed for the chase, the loose ones 
dashing off to surround and pursue the game. 

The mountain division has its own peculiar features, and 
many of them as useful as picturesque. At the base of the 
mountains a long, broad and high bench is seen, three hun- 
dred miles long, fifty miles wide, the deposit of abraded 
mountains of snow and verdure through thousands of years. 
Other and smaller benches of the same character are fre- 
quently seen, inviting the farmer to make his healthy habita- 
tion and fertile field upon it. 

Entering the gorges of the mountains, a succession of 
everything is found which is seen in the alpine regions of 
Switzerland, glaciers only excepted. Magnificent mountain 
scenery, lakes, grassy valleys, snow capped mountains, clear 
streams and fountains, coves and parks, hot and warm springs, 
mineral waters of many varieties, salt in the solid and fluid 
state, salt lakes and even hot salt springs, wood, coal and 
iron. Such are the Rocky Mountains in the long and broad 
section from the head of the Rio Grande del Norte of the 
sunny South to the head of the Athabasca of the Frozen 
ocean. This ample, rich and elevated mountain region is 
deemed by those unacquainted with the Farthest West, to be 
and to be for ever, the desolate and frozen dominion of the 
wild beast and the savage. On the contrary, I view it as 
the future seat of population and power, where man is to 
appear in all the moral, intellectual and physical endow- 
ments which ennoble the mountain race, and where liberty, 
independence, and love of virtue are to make their last stand 
on earth. 

Thus, agriculturally, and as producing the means of human 
subsistence, as sustaining a population, and supplying the 
elements of wealth and power, as derived from the surface 
and the bowels of the earth, I look upon the region drained 
by the w^aters of the Columbia as one of the valuable divi- 
sions of the North American Continent. 

Commercially, the advantages of Oregon will be great — far 
greater than any equal portion of the Atlantic States. The 
eastern Asiatics, who will be their chief customers, are 
more numerous than our customers in western Europe, more 
profitable to trade with, and less dangerous to quarrel with. 
Their articles of commerce are richer than those of Europe ; 



64 THE HON. THOMAS H. BENTON. 

they want what the Oregons will have to spare, bread and 
provisions, and have no systems of policy to prevent them 
from purchasing these necessaries of life from those who can 
supply them. The sea which washes their shores is every 
way a better sea than the Atlantic; richer in its whale and 
other fisheries; in the fur regions which enclose it to the 
north; more fortunate in the tranquillity of its character, in 
its freedom from storms, gulf streams and icebergs; in its 
perfect adaptation to steam navigation ; in its intermediate or 
halfway islands and its myriad of rich islands on its further 
side; in its freedom from maritime Powers on its coasts, ex- 
cept the American which is to grow up at the mouth of the 
Columbia. As a people to trade with, as a sea to navigate, 
the Mongolian race of eastern Asia, and the North Pacific 
ocean, are far preferable to the Europeans and the Atlantic. 

The effect of the arrival of the Caucasian, or White race, 

on the western coast of America, opposite the eastern coast 

of Asia, remains to be mentioned among the benefits which 

the settlement of the Columbia will produce ; and that a 

benefit, not local to us, but general and universal to the human 

race. Since the dispersion of man upon earth, I know of no 

human event, past or present, which promises a greater and 

more beneficent change upon earth than the arrival of the van 

of the Caucasian race (the Celtic-Anglo-Saxon division) upon 

the border of the sea which washes the shore of the eastern 

Asia. The Mongolian, or Yellow race, is there, four hundred 

millions in number, spreading almost to Europe ; a race once 

the foremost of the human family in the arts of civilization, 

but torpid and stationary for thousands of years. It is a race 

far above the Ethiopian, or Black; above the Malay, or Brown, 

(if we must admit five races,) and above the American Indian, 

or Red: it is a race far above all these, but still far below the 

White; and, like all the rest, must receive an impression from 

the superior race whenever they come in contact. It would 

seem that the White race alone received the divine command 

to subdue and replenish the earth ! for it is the only race that 

has obeyed it — the only one that hunts out new and distant 

lands, and even a New World, to subdue and replenish. 

Starting from western Asia, taking Europe for their field, and 

the Sun for their guide, and leaving the Mongolians behind, 

they arrived, after many ages, on the shores of the Atlantic, 

which they lit up with the lights of science and religion, and 



THE HON. THOMAS H. BENTON. 65 

adorned with the useful and the elegant arts. Three and a half 
centuries ago, this race, in obedience to, the great command, 
arrived in the New World, and found new lands to subdue and 
replenish. For a long time it was confined to the border of the 
new jfield (I now mean the Celtic-Anglo-Saxon division) ; and 
even fourscore years ago the philosophic Burke was considered 
a rash man because he said the English colonists would top 
the Alleghanies, and descend into the valley of the Mississippi, 
and occupy without parchment if the Crown refused to make 
grants of land. What was considered a rash declaration eighty 
years ago, is old history, in our young country, at this day. 
Thirty years ago I said the same thing of the Rocky Mountains 
and the Columbia: it was ridiculed then ; it is becoming history 
to-day. The venerable Mr. Macon has often told me that he 
remembered a line low down in North Carolina, fixed by a 
royal governor as a boundary between the Whites and the In- 
dians : where is that boundary now ? The van of the Cauca- 
sian race now top the Rocky Mountains, and spread down to 
the shores of the Pacific. In a few years a great population 
will grow up there, luminous with the accumulated lights of 
European and American civilization. Their presence in such 
a position cannot be without its influence upon eastern Asia. 
The sun of civilization must shine across tiie sea : socially and 
commercially the van of the Caucasians and the rear of the 
Mongolians must intermix. They must talk together, and trade 
together, and marry together. Commerce is a great civilizer, 
social intercourse as great, and marriage greater. The White 
and Yellow races can marry together, as well as eat and trade 
together. Moral and intellectual superiority will do the rest: 
the White race will take the ascendant, elevating what is sus- 
ceptible of improvement, wearing out what is not. The red 
race has disappeared from the Atlantic coast : the tribes that re- 
sisted civilization met extinction. This is a cause of lamenta- 
tion with many. For my part, I cannot murmur at what seems 
to be the effect of Divine law. I cannot repine that this Capitol 
has replaced the wigwam — this Christian people replaced the 
savages — white matrons the red squaws, and that such men as 
Washington, Franklin, and Jefferson have taken the place of 
Powhattan, Opechonecanough, and other red men, howsoever 
respectable they may have been as savages. Civilization, or 
extinction, has been the fate of all people who have found them- 
selves in the track of the advancing Whites, and civilization, 
always the preference of the Whites, has been pressed as an 
object, while extinction has followed as a consequence of its 
5 



66 THE HON. SAMUEL D. HUBBARD. 

resistance. The black and the red races have often felt their 
ameliorating influence. The Yellow race, next to themselves 
in the scale of mental and moral excellence, and in the beauty of 
form, once their superiors in the useful and elegant arts, and in 
learning, and still respectable though stationary; this race cannot 
fail to receive a new impulse from the approach of the Whites, 
improved so much since so many ages ago they left the western 
borders of Asia. The apparition of the van of the Caucasian 
race, rising upon them in the east after having left them on the 
west, and after having completed the circumnavigation of the 
globe, must wake up and re-animate the torpid body of old 
Asia. Our position and policy will commend us to their hos- 
pitable reception : political considerations will aid the action of 
social and commercial influences. Pressed upon by the great 
Powers of Europe — the same that press upon us — they must 
in our approach see the advent of friends, not of foes ; of benefac- 
tors, not of invaders. The moral and intellectual superiority of 
the White race will do the rest; and thus, the youngest people, 
and the newest land, will become the reviver and the regene- 
rator of the oldest. 

It is in this point of view, and as acting upon the social, po- 
litical, and religious condition of Asia, and giving a new point 
of departure to her ancient civilization, that I look upon the 
settlement of the Columbia river by the van of the Caucasian 
race as the most momentous human event in the history of man 
since his dispersion over the face of the earth. 



THE HONOURABLE SAMUEL D. HUBBARD, 

Member of Congress for New Haven and Middlesex, State of 

Connecticut. 

This is a man who has compelled me against all my pre- 
judices, against all my sympathies, to love, esteem and respect 
him. In religion, politics, social habits and manners we are 
the very antipodes of one another. He is a Puritan, — I am a 
Puseyite ; — he is a frequenter of the Meeting House, — I wor- 
ship in Cathedrals ; — he respects the Independent Preacher, — 
at home I recognise the Hierarchy of the Church of England ; 
while in America I have fallen in love with the virtues and 
good works of the Jesuit Fathers ; — he is a Whig, I am an 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 67 

ultra Democrat; he is a strict Protectionist, — I am a Free 
Trader ; — he abhors Slavery, — I hold it but a name ; — he 
condemns dancing, — I hop about like a French grandmother; 
— he is quite natural, — I am quite artificial; — he despises the 
pomps and vanities, — while I, alas ! am their loving, faithful 
votary. Surely no man was ever so maliciously good as this 
representative of stern old Connecticut; and I can only account 
for it by supposing that he originally came out of the May- 
flower, and landed with the Pilgrim Fathers ; — he is their very 
express image. I envied the Whigs and Puritans such intelli- 
gence, judgment and virtue, and have tried all arts to beguile him 
from, their ranks, but in vain ; he will neither be persuaded nor 
convinced, and he walks along with head erect, conscious of 
inflexible integrity; — and, sooth to say, if I wished to speak an 
evil w^ord of him, I could not. 



MARTIN VAN BUREN, 

Of KiNDERHOOK, State of New York, ex-President of the Uitited 

States. 

On arriving at the village of Kinderhook, the Doctor and I 
hired a nice little carriage to Lindenwood, the residence of Mr. 
Van Buren ; it is distant three or four miles from the hamlet. 
It was the 12th of July, and a lovely evening ; the drive was 
extremely pretty, through a fertile farming country, studded 
with fine forest trees. The house stands at a pleasant dis- 
tance from the road, and the shady limes, then in the rich lux- 
uriance of summer foliage, precluded it from view until we 
arrived at the door. On ringing the bell, a gentleman stepped 
from the parlor ; and with that feeling of true unaffected polite- 
ness which would not permit a lady, female or woman (they 
are the same person in America, and are all regarded with the 
same courtesy), to wait until the arrival of an attendant, ad- 
vanced himself to receive us. From the resemblance to his 
pictures, I immediately recognized the ex-President. I had 
received my husband's positive command to pay my respects 
to Mr. Van Buren, but I had no letter of introduction, for, on 
requesting this favour from some of my friends in New York, 
they mentioned that they had recently differed from him on 



68 MARTIN VAN BUREN. 

political grounds, and should feel diffident upon the subject ; 
but I had with me a letter of introduction from Lord Aber- 
deen, then Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in London, 
to the British Minister in Washington ; to be sure, it was sealed 
up, but that did not signify ; so 1 presented it to Mr. Van Bu- 
ren, observing that it would certify that I was not an impostor. 
The ex-President's manners are bewitching ; he took me by the 
hand, laughed heartily at my mode of self-introduction, himself 
lifted from the carriage my travelling bandbox, first ordered the 
driver home, and then said, — " The name you bear. Madam, 
is of itself a sufficient introduction; of course you will stay 
here, for it will give us the greatest pleasure." Of course^ it 
gave the Doctor and myself the greatest pleasure ; we sat down 
in a cool and pleasant parlor ; iced water, lemonade, and wine* 
were immediately presented ; we were introduced to the family 
of Mr. Van Buren, and after tea rambled through the garden 
and the farm. The ex-President gathered flowers for me, led 
us to look at his potatoes, presented me with a branch of deli- 
cious red currants, and delighted me by calling my boy " Doc- 
tor," and walking along the fields with his arm round the little 
fellow's neck. The child was perfectly happy, and 1 retired 
at half after eleven, forgetful of rest and sleep ; for I had list- 
ened with delighted ear to the discourse of my accomplished 
host. And yet I could not define the charm which this magi- 
cian flings upon his words ; they are natural, and of common 
use ; and he speaks of common things, and of common feel- 
ings ; his opinions, sentiments, and thoughts are expressed in 
language which all men understand, for it appeals perpetually 
to their own nature ; he clothes their own perceptions and de- 
sires, their knowledge and their wisdom, in hues so fair that 
they become enamoured of the wit and worth which he so skil- 
fully places to their account. His conversation is like a strain 
of varied music, now grave, now gay, now learned, now sim- 
ple ; generally new and original, but sometimes blending in its 
harmonies the chords of other minstrels ; and by this union, 
imparting to their sounds a grace transcending their own. 
Being somewhat of a humourist, he tells a story most happily, 
and likes to hear a good one. Often, unexpectedly, a new view 
of a subject is presented, unconsciously as it were, by the 
speaker, who never for one moment seems to think of display ; 
self is annihilated in the wish to make others happy and at 
ease; no temptation could induce this most amiable of men to 

* There was, also, I remember, some unfermented wine. 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 69 

Utter a witticism at another's expense ; he praises the deserving 
of all parties and of all countries with generous candour, and 
with discerning justice ; and speaks of himself with that unre- 
served confidence, which is so attractive in a distinguished man. 
His voice is very agreeable ; it has a cheerful, kindly sound, and 
varies with the theme he speaks upon ; combined with the in- 
expressible charm of his manner and conversation, it is, doubt- 
less, a powerful agent in enabling him to conjure men's hearts 
out of their bosoms. 

He spoke of many whom he had known in England ; and 
observed that he " should like to visit the Old Country again 
as a private traveller, divested of the insignia of oftice, and 
thus to observe more at his ease the various peculiarities of 
society." But, added he, smiling, " I am sixty-four, and I am 
here in the midst of my family, — my children and my friends 
are all around me, and I am happy." " It is impossible to 
describe a more affectionate family," says one* who knows 
him well, and loves him much, " than the home circle at Kin- 
derhook. The intercourse between the father and his sons is 
of the most confidential and endearing kind. The amiable dis- 
position of Mr. Van Buren, his invariable good humour and 
indulgence, make every inmate of his household happy." 

I remember well the emotion of Mr. Van Buren, while relat- 
ing to him, during my second visit in July last, the death of 
one, gentle and good, whom he had known and loved from her 
infancy. At first he was unable to speak, but when he reco- 
vered his self-possession, he dwelt with exquisite tenderness 
on the various scenes of her life, on the sorrow of her husband 
and family, and on the general loss to the society of Washington 
occasioned by the death of this amiable woman. 

Mr. Van Buren's reading is very extensive, and his mind is 
stored from the choicest authors both in prose and verse ; the 
usages of the most courtly society are those of his familiar and 
habitual practice ; the comforts and elegancies of his residence 
exactly resemble those we find in the country house of an 
English gentleman of fortune who lives upon his estate. His 
garden and his farm constitute his chief amusement and occu- 
pation when at home : and the ex-President is much interested 
in all agricultural improvements. 

Mr. Van Buren was brought up to the law ; he has filled the 
offices of Minister to England and Vice-President of the United 

* The Hon. Henry D. Gilpin, who filled the office of Attorney-General of 
the United States during the Presidency of Mr. Van Buren. 



70 MARTIN VAN BUREN. 

States ; and succeeded General Jackson, in the Presidential 
Chair, on the 4th March, 1837. His political principles are 
the same as those which were held, and to a great measure 
carried out, by his predecessor. He was the declared enemy 
of a National Bank and of paper money. Mr. Van Buren 
introduced the celebrated measure for the establishment of an 
Independent Treasury, more generally known as the Sub- 
Treasury Bill. He adhered (though a northern man) to the 
constitutional principle of non-interference with Slavery; he 
did much to effect the removal of the Indian Tribes, and guarded 
them from suffering, so far as the difficult circumstances of the 
case would permit. 

The opinions of Mr. Van Buren on the question of Texas 
were opposed to Annexation. ■* 



EXTRACTS FROM THE FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE OF 
MARTIN VAN BUREN. 

December 4, 1837. 

The aggravating circumstances connected with our claims 
upon Mexico, and a variety of events touching the honour and 
integrity of our government, led my predecessor to make, at the 
second session of the last Congress, a special recommendation 
of the course to be pursued to obtain a speedy and final satis- 
faction of the injuries complained of by this government and 
by our citizens. He recommended a final demand of redress, 
with a contingent authority to the executive to make reprisals, 
if that demand should be made in vain. From the proceedings 
of Congress on that recommendation, it appeared that the 
opinion of both branches of the legislature coincided with that 
of the executive, that any mode of redress known to the law of 
nations might justifiably be used. It was obvious, too, that 
Congress believed, with the President, that another demand 
should be made, in order to give undeniable and satisfactory 
proof of our desire to avoid extremities with a neighbouring 
power; but that there was an indisposition to vest a discre- 
tionary authority in the executive to take redress, should it 
unfortunately be either denied or unreasonably delayed by the 
Mexican government. 

So soon as the necessary documents were prepared, after 
entering upon the duties of my office, a special messenger was 
sent to Mexico, to make a final demand of redress, with the 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 71 

documents required by the provisions of our treaty. The de- 
mand was made on the 20th of July last. The reply, which 
bears date the 29th of the same month, contains assurances of a 
desire, on the part of that government, to give a prompt and 
explicit answer respecting each of the complaints, but that 
the examination of them would necessarily be deliberate ; that 
in this examination it would be guided by the principles of 
public law and the obligation of treaties ; that nothing should 
be left undone that might lead to the most speedy and equita- 
ble adjustment of our demands ; and that its determination, in 
respect to each case, should be communicated through the 
Mexican minister here. 

Since that time, an envoy extraordinary and minister pleni- 
potentiary has been accredited to this government by that of the 
Mexican republic. He brought with him assurances of a sin- 
cere desire that the pending differences between the two go- 
vernments should be terminated in a manner satisfactory to both. 
He was received with reciprocal assurances, and a hope was 
entertained that his mission would lead to a speedy, satisfactory, 
and final adjustment of all existing subjects of complaint. A 
sincere believer in the wisdom of the pacific policy, by which 
the United States have always been governed in their inter- 
course with foreign nations, it was my particular desire, from 
the proximity of the Mexican republic, and well known occur- 
rences on our frontier, to be instrumental in obviating all exist- 
ing difficulties with that government, and in restoring the inter- 
course between the two republics to that liberal and friendly 
character by which they should always be distinguished. I 
regret, therefore, the more deeply, to have found in the recent 
communications of that government, so little reason to hope 
that any future efforts of mine for the accomplishment of those 
desirable objects would be successful. 

Although the larger number, and many of them aggravated 
cases of personal wrongs, have been now for years before the 
Mexican government, and some of the causes of national com- 
plaint, and those of the most offensive character, admitted of 
immediate, simple, and satisfactory replies, it is only within a 
few days past that an}'' specific communication in answer to 
our last demand, made five months ago, has been received from 
the Mexican minister. By the report of the secretary of state, 
herewith presented, and the accompanying documents, it will 
be seen, that for not one of our public complaints has satisfac- 
tion been given or offered ; and that but four cases of both de- 
scriptions, out of all those formally presented, and earnestly 



72 MARTIN VAN BUREN. 

pressed, have as yet been decided upon by the Mexican go- 
vernment. 

Not perceiving in what manner any of the powers given to 
the executive alone could . be further usefully employed in 
bringing this unfortunate controversy to a satisfactory termina- 
tion, the subject was, by my predecessor, referred to Congress, 
as one calling for its interposition. In accordance with the 
clearly understood wishes of the legislature, another and formal 
demand for satisfaction has been made upon the Mexican go- 
vernment, with what success the documents now communicated 
will show. On a careful and deliberate examination of their 
contents, and considering the spirit manifested by the Mexican 
government, it has become my painful duty to return the sub- 
ject, as it now stands, to Congress, to whom it belongs to de- 
cide upon the time, the mode, and the measures of redress. 
Whatever may be your decision, it shall be faithfully executed, 
confident that it will be characterized by that moderation and 
justice which w411, I trust, under all circumstances, govern the 

counsels of our country. 

****** 

The report of the commissioner of the general land office, 
which will be laid before you by the secretary of the treasury, 
will show how the affairs of that office have been conducted for 
the past year. The disposition of the public lands is one of 
the most important trusts confided to Congress. The practica- 
bility of retaining the title and control of such extensive domains 
in the general government, and at the same time admitting the 
territories embracing them into the federal Union, as co-equal 
with the original states, was seriously doubted by many of Qur 
wisest statesmen. All feared that they would become a source 
of discord, and many carried their apprehensions so far as to 
see in them the seeds of a future dissolution of the confederacy. 
But happily our experience has already been sufficient to quiet, 
in a great degree, all such apprehensions. The position at one 
time assumed — that the admission of new states into the Union 
on the same footing with the original states, was incompatible 
with a right of soil in the United States, and operated as a sur- 
render thereof, notwithstanding the terms of the compacts by 
which their admission was designed to be regulated, has been 
wisely abandoned. Whether in the new or the old states, all 
now agree that the right of soil to the public lands remains in 
the federal government, and that these lands constitute a com- 
mon property, to be disposed of for the common benefit of all 
the states, old and new. Acquiescence in this just principle 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 73 

by the people of the new states has naturally promoted a dis- 
position to adopt the most liberal policy in the sale of the public 
lands. A policy which should be limited to the mere object of 
selling the lands for the greatest possible sum of money, without 
regard to higher considerations, finds but few advocates. On 
the contrary, it is generally conceded, that while the mode of 
distribution adopted by the government should always be a 
prudent one, yet its leading object ought to be the early settle- 
ment and cultivation of the lands sold; and that it should dis- 
countenance, if it cannot prevent, the accumulation of large 
tracts in the same hands, which must retard the growth of the 
new states, or entail upon them a dependent tenantry and its 
attendant evils. 

A question embracing such important interests, and so well 
calculated to enlist the feelings of the people in every quarter 
of the Union, has very naturally given rise to numerous plans 
for the improvement of the existing system. The distinctive 
features of the policy that has hitherto prevailed, are, to dispose 
of the public lands at moderate prices, thus enabling a greater 
number to enter into competition for their purchase, and accom- 
plishing the double object of promoting their rapid setdement 
by the purchasers, and at the same time increasing the receipts 
of the treasury ; to sell for cash, thereby preventing the disturb- 
ing influence of a large mass of private citizens indebted to the 
government which they have a voice in controlling; to bring 
them into the market no faster than good lands are supposed 
to be wanted for improvements, thereby preventing the accu- 
mulation of large tracts in few hands ; and to apply the proceeds 
of the sales to the general purposes of the government, thus 
diminishing the amount to be raised from the people of the 
states by taxation, and giving each state its portion of the bene- 
fits to be derived from the common fund in a manner the most 
quiet and at the same time, perhaps, the most equitable that 
can be devised. 

These provisions, with occasional enactments in behalf of 
special interests deemed entided to the favour of government, 
have, in their execution, produced results as beneficial upon 
the whole as could reasonably be expected in a matter so vast, 
so complicated, and so exciting. Upwards of seventy millions 
of acres have been sold, the greater part of which is believed to 
have been purchased for actual settlement. The population of 
the new states and territories created out of the public domain 
increased, between 1800 and 1830, from less than sixty thou- 
sand to upwards of two millions three hundred thousand souls, 



74 MARTIN VAN BUREN. 

constituting at the latter period, about one-fifth of the whole 
people of the United States. The increase since cannot be 
accurately known, but the whole may now be safely estimated 
at over three and a half million of souls, composing nine States, 
the representatives of which constitute above one-third of the 
Senate, and over one sixth of the House of Representatives of 
the United States. 

Thus has been formed a body of free and independent land- 
holders, with a rapidity unequalled in the history of mankind; 
and this great result has been produced without leaving any- 
thing for future adjustment between the government and the 
citizens. The system under which so much has been accom- 
plished cannot be intrinsically bad, and with occasional modi- 
fications, to correct abuses and adapt it to changes of circum- 
stances, may, I think, be safely trusted for the future. There 
is, in the management of such extensive interests, much virtue 
in stability ; and although great and obvious improvements 
should not be declined, changes should never be made without 
the fullest examination, and the clearest demonstration of their 
practical utility. 



EXTRACT FROM THE SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE OF 

MARTIN VAN BUREN. 

December 4, 1838. 

The present year closes the first half century of our federal 
institutions: and our system, difiering from all others in the 
acknowledged practical and unlimited operation which it has 
for so long a period given to the sovereignty of the people, has 
now been fully tested by experience. 

The constitution devised by our forefathers as the frame- 
work and bond of that system, then untried, has become a 
settled form of government ; not only preserving and protect- 
ing the great principles upon which it was founded, but won- 
derfully promoting individual happiness and private interests. 
Though subject to change and entire revocation, whenever 
deemed inadequate to all these purposes, yet such is the wisdom 
of its construction, and so stable has been the public sentiment, 
that it remains unaltered, except in matters of detail, compara- 
tively unimportant. It has proved amply suflicient for the 
various emergencies incident to our condition as a nation. A 
formidable foreign Mar; agitating collisions between domestic. 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 75 

and in some respects rival, sovereignties ; temptations to inter- 
fere in the intestine commotions of neighbouring countries ; the 
dangerous influences that arise in periods of excessive pros- 
perity; and the anri-republican tendencies of associated wealth ; — 
these, with other trials not less formidable, have all been en- 
countered, and thus far successfully resisted. 

It was reserved for the American Union to test the advan- 
tages of a government entirely dependent on the continual exer- 
cise of the popular will; and our experience has shown that it 
is as beneficent in practice as it is just in theory. Each 
successive change made in our local institutions has contributed 
to extend the right of suffrage, has increased the direct in- 
fluence of the mass of the community, given greater freedom 
to individual exertion, and restricted more and more the powers 
of government ; yet the intelligence, prudence and patriotism 
of the people have kept pace with the augmented responsibility. 
In no country has education been so widely diffiised. Domestic 
peace has nowhere so largely reigned. The close bonds of 
social intercourse have in no instance prevailed with such 
harmony over a space so vast. All forms of religion have 
united, for the first time, to diff'use charity and piety, because 
for the first time in the history of nations, all have been totally 
untrammelled and absolutely free. The deepest recesses of 
the wilderness have been penetrated; yet, instead of the rude- 
ness in the social condition consequent upon such adventures 
elsewhere, numerous communities have sprung up, already un- 
rivalled in prosperity, general intelligence, internal tranquillity, 
and the wisdom of their political institutions. Internal improve- 
ments, the fruit of individual enterprise, fostered by the pro- 
tection of the states, have added new links to the confede- 
ration, and fresh rewards to provident industry. Doubtful 
questions of domestic policy have been quietly settled by 
mutual forbearance ; and agriculture, commerce, and manu- 
factures, minister to each other. Taxation and public debt, 
the burdens which bear so heavily upon all other countries, 
have pressed with comparative lightness upon us. Without 
one entangling alliance, our friendship is prized by every 
nation; and the rights of our citizens are every where respected, 
because they are known to be guarded by a united, sensitive, 

and watchful people. 

****** 

It aflbrds me sincere pleasure to be able to apprize you of the 
entire removal of the Cherokee nation of Indians to their new 
homes west of the Mississippi. The measures authorized by 



76 MARTIN VAN BUREN. 

Congress at its last session, with a view to the long standing 
controversy with them, have had the happiest effects. By an 
agreement concluded with them by the commanding general in 
that country, who has performed the duties assigned to him on 
the occasion with commendable energy and humanity, their 
removal has been principally under the conduct of their own 
chiefs, and they have emigrated without any apparent reluc- 
tance. 

The successful accomplishment of this important object; the 
removal, also, of the entire Creek nation, with the exception of 
a small number of fugitives amongst the Seminoles in Florida; 
the progress already made toward a speedy completion of the 
removal of the Chickasaws, the Choctaws, the Pottawatamies, 
the Ottawas, and the Chippewas, with the extensive purchases 
of Indian lands during the present year, have rendered the 
speedy and successful result of the long established policy of 
the government upon the subject of Indian affairs entirely cer- 
tain. The occasion is, therefore, deemed a proper one to place 
this policy in such a point of view as will exonerate the govern- 
ment of the United Slates from the undeserved reproach which 
has been cast upon it through several successive administrations. 
That a mixed occupancy of the same territory, by the white 
and red man, is incompatible with the safety or happiness of 
either, is a position in respect to which there has long since 
ceased to be room for a difference of opinion. Reason and 
experience have alike demonstrated its impracticability. The 
bitter fruits of every attempt heretofore to overcome the barriers 
interposed by nature, have only been destruction, both physical 
and moral, to the Indian ; dangerous conflicts of authority be- 
tween the federal and state governments ; and detriment to the 
individual prosperity of the citizens, as well as to the general 
improvement of the country. The remedial policy, the prin- 
ciples of which were settled more than thirty years ago, under 
the administration of Mr. Jefferson, consists in an extinction, 
for a fair consideration, of the title to all the lands still occupied 
by the Indians within the states and territories of the United 
States ; their removal to a country west of the Mississippi much 
more extensive, and better adapted to their condition than that 
on which they then resided; the guarantee to them, by the 
United States, of their exclusive possession of that country for 
ever, exempt from all intrusions by white men, with ample pro- 
visions for their security against external violence and internal 
dissensions, and the extension to them of suitable facilities for 
their advancement in civilization. This has not been the policy 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 77 

of particular administrations only, but of each in succession 
since the first attempt to carr^ it out under that of Mr. Monroe. 
All have laboured for its accomplishment, only with different 
degrees of success. The manner of its execution has, it is true, 
from time to time given rise to conflicts of opinion and unjust 
imputations ; but in respect to the wisdom and necessity of the 
policy itself, there has not, from the beginning, existed a doubt 
in the mind of any calm, judicious, disinterested friend of the 
Indian race, accustomed to reflection and enlightened by ex- 
perience. 



EXTRACT FROJVI THE THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE OF 
MARTIN VAN BUREN. 

December 2, 1839. 

I regret to be obliged to inform you that no convention for the 
settlement of the claims of our citizens upon Mexico has yet 
been ratified by the government of that country. The first 
convention formed for that purpose was not presented by the 
President of Mexico for the approbation of its Congress, from 
a belief that the King of Prussia, the arbitrator in case of dis- 
agreement in the joint commission to be appointed by the United 
States and Mexico, would not consent to take upon himself that 
friendly office. Although not entirely satisfied with the course 
pursued by Mexico, I felt no hesitation in receiving, in the most 
conciliatory spirit, the explanation offered, and also cheerfully 
consented to a new convention, in order to arrange the payments 
proposed to be made to our citizens in a manner which, while 
equally just to them, was deemed less onerous and inconvenient 
to the Mexican government. Relying confidently upon the in- 
tentions of that government, Mr. Ellis was directed to repair to 
Mexico, and diplomatic intercourse has been resumed between 
the two countries. The new convention has, he informs us, 
been recently submitted by the President of that republic to its 
Congress, under circumstances which promise a speedy ratifica- 
tion ; a result which I cannot allow myself to doubt. 



78 MARTIN VAN BUREN. 

EXTRACT FROM THE FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE OF MAR- 
TIN VAN BUREN. 

December 5, 1840. 

The suppression of the African Slave Trade has received the 
continued attention of the government. The brig Dolphin and 
schooner Grampus have been employed during the last season 
on the coast of Africa, for the purpose of preventing such por- 
tions of that trade as w^ere said to be prosecuted under the 
American flag. After cruising on those parts of the coast most 
usually resorted to by slavers, until the commencement of the 
rainy season, these vessels returned to the United States for 
supplies, and have since been despatched on a similar service. 

From the reports of the commanding officers, it appears that 
the trade is now principally carried on under Portuguese co- 
lours ; and they express the opinion that the apprehension of 
their presence on the slave coast, has, in a great degree, arrested 
the prostitution of the American flag to this inhuman purpose. 
It is hoped that, by continuing to maintain this force in that 
quarter, and by the exertions of the officers in command, much 
will be done to put a stop to whatever portion of this traffic 
may have been carried on under the American flag, and to pre- 
vent its use in a trade which, while it violates the laws, is 
equally an outrage on the rights of others and the feelings of 
humanity. The efforts of the several governments who are 
anxiously seeking to suppress this traffic must, however, be 
directed against the facilities afforded by what are now recog- 
nised as legitimate commercial pursuits, before that object can 
be fully accomplished. 

Supplies of provisions, water-casks, merchandise, and arti- 
cles connected with the prosecution of the Slave Trade, are, it is 
understood, freely carried by vessels of different nations to the 
Slave factories ; and the effects of the factors are transported 
openly from one Slave station to another, without interrup- 
tion or punishment from either of the nations to which they 
belong, by ships engaged in the commerce of that nation. I 
submit to your judgment, whether this government, having 
been the first to prohibit by adequate penalties, the Slave 
Trade — the first to declare it piracy"— ^ho\AA not be the first, 
also, to forbid to its citizens all trade with the Slave factories 
on the coast of Africa; giving an example to all nations in this 
respect, which, if fairly followed, cannot fail to produce the 
most eff*ective results in breaking up those dens of iniquity. 



79 



THE HONOURABLE ROBERT C. WINTHROP, 
Member of Congress for Boston. 

This is a name which I delight to honour. Graceful, gal- 
lant, and accomplished, Winthrop is the rising glory of the 
"Whigs ; and, by his truth and worth, he has well merited this 
high and distinguished position. Possessing the prestige that 
naturally arises from gentle birth and ample fortune, this pro- 
mising member has no interest to serve, no favour to seek. 
His politics are those of his party, but modified by enlarged 
reason and enlightened judgment ; he has stepped beyond the 
narrow boundary of New England policy, and, if I mistake 
not, the remark that men of that section of the Union are un- 
skilled in the Art of Government will in his case be refuted. 
Already he has foreseen the imperative necessity of reducing 
the scale of commercial restriction, and in the session of 1846 
declared his willingness to accept, under certain conditions, a 
modification of the Tariff of 1842.* 

The general views of the Member for Boston on the Oregon 
Question were explicitly laid down in his speech upon the sub- 
ject in the House of Representatives as early as the 3d of Jan- 
uary. The impression produced by his remarks was greatly 
increased by the fact of his voting against giving the Notice, 
contrary to the opinion and vote of his colleague, Mr. Adams. 
" I have no hesitation," observes the Hon. Member, "in saying 
that I honestly think, upon as dispassionate a review of the cor- 
respondence as I am capable of, that the American title to 
Oregon is the best now in existence. But I honestly think, also, 
that the whole character of the title is too confused and compli- 
cated to justify any arbitrary and exclusive assertions of right, 
and that a compromise of the question is every way consistent 
with reason, interest, and honour." 

j^ PT ^ ^ ^ * 

He adds, in conclusion, "As a friend, then, to Oregon, with 
every disposition to maintain our just rights to that territory, 

* We may not, however, claim Mr. Winthrop as a Free Trader, for I re- 
member that, when alluding to the possibility of Mr. Calhoun's accepting the 
mission to England, after speaking of that illustrious Senator in terms of the 
highest esteem and veneration, he added, smiling, " But i^e" (that is, the 
Whig party generally) «' cannot allow Free Trade to be a part of his instruc- 
tions." 



80 THE HON. ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 

with the most sincere desire to see that territory in the posses- 
sion of such of our own people as desire to occupy it — wliether 
hereafter as an independent nation, as was originally suggested 
by a distinguished Senator from Missouri, (Mr. Benton,) and 
more recently by a no less distinguished Senator from Massa- 
chusetts, (Mr. Webster,) or as a portion of our own wide-spread 
and glorious republic — I am opposed to the steps which are now 
about to be so hotly pursued.* 

" Sir, I feel that I have a right to express something more than 
an ordinary interest in this matter. There is no better element 
in our title to Oregon than that which has been contributed by 
Boston enterprise. You may talk about the old navigators of 
Spain, and the Florida treaty, and the settlement of Astoria, and 
the survey of Lewis and Clarke, as much as you please, but 
you all come back, for your best satisfaction, to ' Auld Robin 
Gray' in the end. Captain Robert Gray, of Boston, in tbe 
good ship Columbia, gave you your earliest right of foothold 
upon that soil, 

" I have seen, within a few months past, the last survivor of 
his hardy crew, still living in a green old age, and exhibiting 
with pride a few original sketches of some of the scenes of that 
now memorable voyage. My constituents all feel some pride 
in their connection with the title to this territorv. But in their 
name I protest against the result of their peaceful enterprise 
being turned to the account of an unnecessary and destructive 
war. I protest against the pure current of the river which they 
discovered, and to which their ship has given its noble name, 
being wantonly stained with either American or British blood ! 

"But while I am thus opposed to war for Oregon, or to any 
measures which, in my judgment, are likely to lead to war, I 
shall withhold no vote from any measure which the friends of 
the administration may bring forward for the defence of the 
country. Whether the bill be for two regiments or for twenty 
regiments, it shall pass all unopposed by me. To the last file, 
to the uttermost farthing, which they may require of us, they 
shall have men and money for the public protection. But the 
responsibility for bringing about such a state of things shall be 
theirs, and theirs only. They can prevent it if they please. 
The Peace of the country and the Honour of the country are 
still entirely compatible with each other. The Oregon question 
is still perfectly susceptible of an amicable adjustment, and I 

* i. e. Giving the notice to Great Britain that the convention of joint occu- 
pation be at an end. 



THE HON. ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 81 

rejoice to believe that it may still be so adjusted. We have 
had omens of peace in the other end of the Capitol, if none in 
this. But, if war comes, the Administration must take the re- 
sponsibility for all its guilt and all its disgrace." 

Mr. Winthrop made an electrifying speech on the question 
of granting to the President a sum of two millions of dollars 
for the purpose of arranging affairs between the United States 
and Mexico. He voted in favour of granting the supply. 

The mental qualifications of this member are of a very high 
order; and, moreover, they are under the rigid discipline of a 
strong understanding, and therefore are eminently calculated 
for usefulness. He impartially weighs a man's worth before 
he yields his esteem ; perhaps it may be said that his approaches 
in friendship would be slow; and that he would not be blinded 
by affection, even in his appreciation of his dearest friend. No 
impulses, no exaggerations, no gigantic aspirations hurry him 
beyond the bounds of reasonable, practicable, common sense 
measures. But I would confide in his zeal when he is once 
convinced of the rectitude of his cause, as implicitly as I would 
trust in the caution with which he chooses his course. The 
temper of Mr. Winthrop is proud and enduring; not hasty or 
petulant; and I have seen him listen in cold and haughty 
silence to taunts directed against himself which would render 
an ordinary man furious; but this calm and unbending spirit 
fails him when he is attacked through the fair name of his 
friends ; then his generous indignation is instantly aroused, and 
valiantly he hurries on to the rescue. Honored and happy is 
the man who has Winthrop for his defender. 

Mr. Winthrop is the lineal descendant of John Winthrop, the 
first Governor of the State of Massachusetts, and the founder 
of Boston, who came over in 1630. Mr. Bancroft, in his 
History of the United States, gives us many highly interesting 
and peculiar anecdotes of the family of Mr. Winthrop, and I 
have been delighted, in reading the history of these early settlers, 
to compare his character with theirs, and to find how truly he 
is the heir of their virtues as well as of their name. In stern 
religious and moral feeling, in the love of freedom and inde- 
pendence, in moral and physical courage, in honesty, in fidelity, 
in charity, in patience, he resembles strongly the first Fathers 
of Massachusetts; and on these elder virtues he has engrafted 
all the accomplishments of later times. The honours which his 
ancestors have won, by him will be maintained, pure and un- 
sullied as they were received. I have traced, with curious 
interest, a likeness in Mr. Winthrop to the features of John 
6 



82 THE HON. ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 

Winthrop (the first Governor), in a portrait painted by Van- 
dyke; and should I revisit America, as I hope, I shall be 
strangely tempted to ask his permission to try how becomingly 
he would look in a starched lace ruffle, such as adorns the 
neck of the Pilgrim Governor. The landing of these interest- 
ing adventurers, the kindred of our own forefathers, in their 
new and unknown home, is the subject of many efforts on the 
canvass ; but what charming tableaux vivants for Thanksgiv- 
ing Day might be constructed from the history of their progress ; 
the actors in the imaginative scene being the actual descendants 
of the heroic men and women who performed so important a 
drama on the theatre of the world. What mingled pictures of 
the sublime, the heroic, the pathetic, the amusing, nay of the 
ludicrous, might be conjured up from these spirited narratives; 
and it would be so delightful thus to dramatise the past, and to 
annihilate the space of two centuries. The ladies of the family 
of Endicott, of Salem, Massachusetts, bear also a striking re- 
semblance to the handsome features of their magnanimous and 
intrepid predecessor. I shall never forget their sweet faces. 

Mr. Winthrop is fair, and his colour comes and goes when he 
is speaking; his bearing is highly aristocratic. In conversation 
the natural and cultivated resources of his mind give him great 
advantages ; his language is very refined, and his taste in reading 
is of the best kind ; he has charmed me by his devoted love of 
Shakspeare. His public speeches are ever dictated by a sense of 
duty, and by the truest patriotism ; their popularity or unpopu- 
larity is a part of them which never concerns him. In private 
life he is universally esteemed and respected. Massachusetts 
may well be proud, both of his present promise, and of his 
future fame. 



EXTRACTS FROM MR. WINTHROP'S SPEECH 
Before the Bostoiv Mercantile Associatiox. 

******* 

If one were called on to say what, upon the whole, was the 
most distinctive and characterizing feature of the age in which 
we live, I think he might reply, that it was the rapid and steady 
progress of the influence of Commerce upon the social and 
political condition of man. The policy of the civilized world 
is now everywhere and eminently a commercial policy. No 
longer do the nations of the earth measure their relative conse- 



THE HON. ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 83 

quence by the number and discipline of their armies upon the 
land, or their armadas upon the sea. The tables of their im- 
ports and exports, the tonnage of their commercial marines, the 
value and variety of their home trade, the sum total of their 
mercantile exchanges, these furnish the standards by which 
national power and national importance are now marked and 
measured. Even extent of territorial dominion is valued little, 
save as it gives scope and verge for mercantile transactions ; 
and the great use of colonies is what Lord Sheffield declared 
it to be half a century ago, *' the monopoly of their consump- 
tion, and the carriage of their produce." 

Look to the domestic administration, or the foreijin neffotia- 
tion of our own, or any other civilized country. Listen to the 
debates of the two houses of the Imperial Parliament. What 
are the subjects of their gravest and most frequent discussions? 
The succession of families? The marriage of princes? The 
conquest of provinces? The balance of power? — No, the 
balance of trade, the sliding scale, corn, cotton, sugar, timber — 
these furnish now the home-spun threads upon which the states- 
men of modern days are obliged to string the pearls of their 
parliamentary rhetoric. Nay, the Prime Minister himself is 
heard discoursing upon the duties to be levied upon the seed 
of a certain savoury vegetable — the use of which not even 
Parisian authority has rendered quite genteel upon a fair day — 
as gravely, as if it were as true in regard to the complaints 
against the tariff of Great Britain, as some of us think it is true 
in reference to the murmurs against our own American tariff, 
that " all the tears which should water this sorrow, live in an 
onion r'' 

Cross over to the continent. What is the great fact of the 
day in that quarter? Lo, a convention of delegates from ten 
of the independent states of Germany, forgetting their old po- 
litical rivalries and social feuds, flinging to the vv^inds all the 
fears and jealousies which have so long sown dragon's teeth 
along the borders of neighbouring states of disproportioned 
strength and different forms of government — the lamb lying 
down with the lion — the little city of Frankfort with the proud 
kingdom of Prussia — and all entering into a solemn league to 
regulate commerce and secure markets ! What occupy the 
thoughts of the diplomatists, the Guizots, and Aberdeens, and 
Metternichs ? Reciprocal treaties of commerce and navigation 
—treaties to advance an honest trade, or sometimes (I thank 
Heaven !) to abolish an infamous and accursed traffic — these 
are the engrossing topics of their protocols and ultimatums. 



84 THE HON. ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 

Even wars, when they have occurred, or when they have been 
rumoured, for a quarter of a century past, how ahuost uni- 
formly has the real motive, whether of the menace or of the 
hostile act, proved to be — whatever may have been the pretence 
— not, as aforetime, to destroy, but to secure, the sources of 
com.mercial wealth. Algiers, Affghanistan, China, Texas, Ore 
gon, all point more or less directly, to one and the same pervad- 
ing policy throughout the world — of opening new markets, se- 
curing new ports, and extending commerce and navigation over 
new lands and new seas. 

But the most signal and most gratifying illustration of the 
predominating influence of commerce in the affairs of the world, 
is to be drawn not from the consideration of wars, but o^ peace. 
It is a common form of remark, that the protracted and general 
peace, which the world has of late enjoyed, has been the cause 
of that vast extension of commerce which is everywhere wit- 
nessed. And, doubtless, there is much truth in the idea in- 
tended to be conveyed by it. Certainly, too, there has been, 
and always will be, much of action and reaction in these coin- 
ciding circumstances, and much to account for various readings 
in the assignment of cause and consequence. Yet I cannot but 
think that the time has at length fully come, when the mode of 
stating the relations between these great interests, should be 
changed ; and when commerce may fairly be considered as 
having substantiated its claim to that highest of all titles, the 
great conservator of the ivorlcVs peace, instead of being repre- 
sented as a helpless dependent on peace for the liberty of pro- 
secuting its own pursuits. 

Indeed, commerce has, in all ages, been the most formidable 
antagonist of war. That great struggle for the mastery, which 
has been going on, almost from the earliest syllable of recorded 
time, upon the theatre of human life, and which has been vari- 
ously described and denominated, according to the aspect in 
which it has been regarded, or the object with which it was 
discussed — now as a struggle between aristocracy and demo- 
cracy, and now as between the few and the many — has been 
little more than a struggle between the mercantile and the mar- 
tial spirit. 

For centuries, and cycles of centuries, the martial spirit has 
prevailed. The written history of the world is one long bloody 
record of its triumph. And it cannot have escaped any one, 
how, during the periods of its sternest struggles, it has singled 
out the commercial spirit as its most formidable foe. Look at 
ancient Sparta for example; the state which, more than any 



THE HON. ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 85 

Other, was organized upon a purely war principle ; though, to 
the credit of its founder be it spoken, with the view of defend- 
ing its own territories, and not of encroaching upon the do- 
minions of others. What was the first great stroke of policy 
adopted by the Lacedaemonian lawgiver to secure the supremacy 
of the martial spirit ? What did he primarily aim to accomplish 
by his extraordinary enactments in relation to food, currency, 
education, honesty, and labour of all sorts ? A Lacedaemonian 
happening to be at Athens when the court vv^as sitting, was in- 
formed of a man who had just been fined for idleness. "Let 
me see the person," exclaimed he, " who has been condemned 
for keeping up his dignity!'''' What was the philosophy of 
the black broth, the iron money, the consummate virtue of suc- 
cessful theft, the sublime dignity of idleness ? It was the war 
system, entrenching itself, where alone it could be safe, on the 
ruins of commerce ! The annihilation of trade, and all its in- 
(htcements, and all its incidents — the extermination of the mer- 
cantile spirit, root and branch — this was the only mode which 
the sagacious Lycurgus could devise for maintaining the martial 
character of Sparta. 

Plato, who knew something of the practical value of com- 
merce, if it be true that it was by selling oil in Egypt that he 
was enabled to defray the expenses of those travels and studies, 
by which he prepared himself to be one of the great lights of 
the world, bore witness to the wise adaptation of this policy to 
the end to be accomplished, when he declared that in a well- 
reoruiated commonwealth, the citizens should not enffaofe in 
commerce, because they would be accustomed to find pretexts 
for justifying conduct so inconsistent with what was manly and 
becoming, as would relax the strictness of the military spirit; 
adding, that it had been better for the Athenians to have con- 
tinued to send annually, the sons of seven of their principal 
citizens to be devoured bv the Minotaur, than to have changed 
their ancient manners, and become a maritime power. 

It is this irreconcilable hostility between the mercantile and 
the martial spirit, which has led heroes, in all ages, to despise 
and deride the pursuits of trade — from the heroes of the Ho- 
meric age of ancient Greece, with whom a pirate is said to have 
been a more respected character than a merchant, to him of 
modern France, who could find no severer sarcasm for his most 
hated foes, than to call them " a nation of shopkeepers." 

But, from the discovery of the new world, the mercantile 
spirit has been rapidly gaining upon its old antagonist ; and the 
establishment upon these shores of our own Republic, whose 



86 THE HON. ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 

Union was the immediate result of commercial necessities, 
whose Independence found its original impulse in commercial 
oppressions, and of whose Constitution the reg-ulation of com- 
merce was the first leading idea — may be regarded as the epoch, 
at whicli the martial spirit finally lost a supremacy which, it is 
believed and trusted, it can never re-acquire. 

Hf: r,i ^ i^ ^ ^ ^ 

I honour the advocates of peace wherever they may be found ; 
and gladly would I hail the day, when their transcendent prin- 
ciples shall be consistent with the maintenance of those organ- 
ized societies which are so clearly of Divine original and sanc- 
tion ; the day, when 

" All crimes shall cease, and ancient fraud shall fail, 
Returning Justice lift aloft her scale ; 
Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend, 
And white-rob'd Innocence from Heaven descend." 

In the mean time, let us rejoice that the great interests of 
international commerce are effecting practically, what these sub- 
lime principles aim at theoretically. It is easy, I know, to 
deride these interests as sordid, selfish, dollar-and-cent influ- 
ences, emanating from the pocket, instead of from the heart or 
the conscience. But an enlightened and regulated pursuit of 
real interests is no unworthy policy, either on the part of indi- 
viduals or nations, and a far-sighted selfishness is not only con- 
sistent with, but is often itself, the truest philanthropy. Com- 
mandments of not inferior authority to the Decalogue, teach us, 
that the love of our neighbour, a duty second only in obligation 
to the love of God, is to find its measure in that love of self, 
which has been implanted in our nature for no unwise or un- 
warrantable ends. Yet, gentlemen, while I would vindicate 
the commercial spirit from the reproaches which are too often 
cast upon it, and hail its triumphant progress over the world as 
the harbinger of freedom, civilization and peace, I would by no 
means intimate an opinion, that it is not itself susceptible of 
improvement — that it does not itself demand regulation and 
restraint. The commercial spirit has rendered noble service to 
mankind. Its influence in promoting domestic order, in stimu- 
lating individual industry, in establishing and developing the 
great principle of the divisio7i of labour — its appropriation of 
the surplus products of all mechanical and all agricultural in- 
dustry for its cargoes — its demand upon the highest exercise of 
invention and skill for its vehicles — its appeal to the sublimest 
science for its guidance over the deep — its imperative requisi- 
tion of the strictest public faith and private integrity — its indi- 



THE HON. ROGER B. TANEY. 87 

rect, but not less powerful operation in diffusing knowledge, 
civilization and freedom over the world — all conspire with that 
noble conquest over the spirit of war which I have described, 
in commending it to the gratitude of man, and in stamping it 
with the crownmark of a divinely appointed instrument for 
good. But that it requires to be tempered, and chastened, and 
refined, and elevated, and purified, and Christianized, examples 
gross as earth, and glaring as the sun, exhort us on every side. 
May you all be inspired with the ambition of securing for our 
own country and for our own city, so far as in you lies, some 
share in that noble tribute which was paid by the celebrated 
Montesquieu, a century ago, to the land of our Fathers : — 
" They know (said he, speaking of the People of England) 
better than any other people upon earth, how to value, at the 
same time, these three great advantages. Religion, Commerce 
and Liberty !" 



THE HONOURABLE ROGER B. TANEY, 
Chief-Justice of the Ukited States. 

I HAD the pleasure of seeing the Chief-Justice at Baltimore, 
in July : he was from home and occupied ; but on my being pre- 
sented, immediately accompanied me to his house, and indulged 
myself and my Doctor with an interview. I asked many 
questions relating to the forms of government, to legal institu- 
tions, the tendency of certain political questions then pending, 
&c. The Judge explained all with that professional clearness and 
precision which make the most intricate matter easy, and that 
courteous patience which encourages the ignorant to further 
inquiry. I thought there was great originality in all his re- 
marks ; his opinions were his own, and exhibited much breadth 
and power of thought, and an entire freedom from prejudice. 
In speaking of several distinguished men, he alluded particu- 
larly to Mr. Webster, of whom he said, " Mr. Webster, when 
animated, is the first of living orators." In political principle he 
is firmly attached to the Democratic band, and was appointed 
by General Jackson to the offices of Attorney-General of the 
United States in 1831; of Secretary of the Treasury in 1833; 
and of Chief-Justice in 1835. 



88 THE HON. ROGER B. TANEY. . 

When in Court he has the appearance of an invaUd; he is 
thin, and pale, and stoops, and looks as if his midnight lamp 
had waned less often on his slumber, than on severe and 
laborious study. He looks, in fact, like the Chief-Judge of 
all the Land; like him upon whose anxious head reposes the 
trust of millions, and presses the daily and the nightly burthen 
of ceaseless responsibility. But this delicate, and care-worn, 
and almost suffering aspect, disappears in societ3^ and his man- 
ners and conversation are cheerful and animated: so kind, so 
familiar did he seem, so well at once to know me, that I still 
reproach myself for not seeking his friendship before I was 
already on the wing for England. But, as if penetrating my 
thoughts, he said on parting, " I knew well who you were in 
Washington, and I often wished to call upon you ; I was then 
much harassed with professional business, and could not; but 
remember. Madam, when you return among us, that I shall 
claim my privilege of renewing and encouraging this intercourse 
between us. And may Heaven be your guide across the 
ocean, to your home, and to your country !" How truly was 
this benediction in accordance with that spirit of affectionate 
good v/ill so universal in the Catholic Church; — for the pre- 
sent head of the Law in America, the Fountain of Justice, the 
Moderator appointed by the Constitution between the citizen 
and the ruler, the Judge of the Chief-Magistrate himself, should 
the President be arraigned of High Treason; — Roger B. Taney, 
Chief-Justice of the United States, is a professor of the Roman 
Catholic Religion. He is attached with fervent zeal to that 
ancient, learned, and enduring Faith, whose disciples have 
excelled all others in divine and human knowledge, and he is 
a native of that Catholic Maryland whose glorious destiny 
appointed her the first among believing nations to engraft 
religious freedom upon civil law, and thus to render her code 
of Christian Jurisprudence the theme of praise, and the model 
of imitation for all the People of the Earth. 



89 



THE HONOURABLE JOHN MLEAN, 
Associate-Justice in the Supreme Court of the United States. 

"If you Whigs make a President, in 1848," said I one day 
to a friend, "let it be Judge M'Lean." "Do not wish that, 
Mrs. Maury," was the reply ; " Judge M'Lean is canonized; if 
he were taken away from the Supreme Court, where is the 
Guardian of the Constitution?" Such was the compliment 
paid to the virtue and talents of this good and great man 
by one of the most eminent of the Whig leaders, and his pub- 
lic and private life, presenting one fair page of integrity and 
honour, fully justify the words. I frequently visited the Su- 
preme Court, somedmes spending many hours in listening to 
the able advocates engaged in the business going on ; and, be- 
fore I had ever been presented to Judge M'Lean, was honoured 
by his protection, and gratified by his notice. My little son 
was, on general occasions, my only escort ; he attended me to 
my seat, and then took leave, generally returning every hour to 
inquire if I was ready to retire. I was thus alone in the Court, 
and might probably have felt somewhat embarrassed, being un- 
known, and in the midst of strangers : but Judge M'Lean 
entering at once into the delicacy of my position, always bowed 
to me from the Bench, as well on my departure as on my en- 
trance. The compliment was the more gratifying, because 
M'Lean was usually at that time the presiding Judge on the 
Bench.* Lnmediately, by this recognition, I felt myself in the 
society and under the protection of the graceful and benignant 
Judge, and no words can express the relief afforded me by this 
most delicate and refined attention ; the impulse of a heart filled 
with that charity which surpasses comprehension. 

\\\ 1829, when General Jackson was elected to the Presi- 
dency, Mr. M'Lean was the Postmaster-General ; " and he 
was," said Charles J. Ingersoll, " the very best Postmaster 
that the country ever had ; he discharged the office with indus- 
try, punctuality and economy, and displayed great ability in the 
arrangements. Judge M'Lean employed many females, in 

* This arrangement took place in consequence of some causes coming 
before the Court, in which Judge M'Lean had had much previous opportunity 
of obtaining information. 



90 THE HON. JOHN M'LEAN. 

various small towns, and found the Postmistresses quite as effi- 
cient as the Postmasters." General Jackson appointed Mr. 
M'Lean to the Bench of the Supreme Court, in 1829, conse- 
quently he has been a Judge seventeen years. He is univer- 
sally respected for the unbiassed justice of his decisions ; his 
politics are rather Whig than Democratic, but his impartiality 
is unimpeachable, and men of all parties join to praise his pub- 
lic career. 

Judge M'Lean is remarkably handsome ; his person is tall 
and dignified, and the sweep of his black silk gown is quite 
graceful ; he is fifty-seven, of fair complexion, light blue eyes, 
somewhat bald, (Judges in America are wise, and look so too, 
without the help of wigs,) and with a profile of admirable pro- 
portions, the forehead, nose, mouth, and chin, being perfect in 
their oudine ; the expression is of the noblest moral character, 
mingled with somewhat of playfulness. The Judge possesses 
the advantage of a very harmonious voice ; his manners on the 
Bench are perfectly affable and respectful, both to the Judges 
and the Advocates, and I have never, even in the most weari- 
some causes, seen him betray one symptom of impatience. 

On my arrival in Cincinnati, I was most hospitably received 
by Judge M'Lean, and had then the opportunity of witnessing 
his amiable and benevolent character, his domestic happiness, 
and his social habits. 

Residing in the free state of Ohio, separated from the slave 
state of Kentucky only by the Ohio river, the opinions of this 
calm and disinterested statesman, founded as they are upon 
personal observation, must have great value in the question of 
the abolition of slavery; I was curious to learn them, — "If 
you touch slavery," replied he, " you risk a separation of the 
Union." These words are oracular, and were uttered by a 
man whom no abolitionist can surpass in the genuine love of 
freedom and of right. If one so well informed, so full of be- 
nevolence as John M'Lean, anticipates so vast an evil both to 
the white man and the black from the agitation of this question, 
as the breaking up of the Union, how can men wholly ignorant 
of the real nature of the subject venture to promulgate their 
baseless, impracticable visions, to the outrage of common sense, 
and the injury of charity? But thus it is, "that fools rush in 
where angels fear to tread." 

The Methodist Church has the honour of numbering Judge 
M'Lean among her votaries. I accompanied him twice to 
church, for having seen him in the most exalted, as well as in 
the most endearing, of human relations, I wished (and I hope 



THE HON. JOHN M'LEAN. 91 

with no idle curiosity) to see him in the presence of his God. 
The Judge kneeled reverently before the altar of the Almighty^ 
for it was the time of prayer ; his eyes were closed, but his- 
fine countenance became impressed with mental devotion, and 
when the preacher entered upon his eloquent discourse, for 
truly eloquent it was, and described the blessed effects of 
brotherly love, tears flowed down his cheeks, and the motion 
of his lips informed me, though his voice was inaudible, that he 
was in communion with his Creator. Need I say with what 
reverence I looked upon him. 



I have recently read with much surprise the remarks of Mr. 
Wyse on the profession of the law, in the United States, and I 
would venture to express my hope that some of the patriotic 
members of the bar in America should take up the gauntlet, 
and vindicate their country's honour and their own. It gives 
me unfeigned pleasure that one learned Judge, at least, should 
speak for himself, and I offer with confidence his whole charge 
to the Grand Jury at the anxious period of 1838. 



A CHARGE TO THE GRAND JURY, 
At December Terji, 1838. 

In regard to aiding or favouring iinlawfid military comhina- 
tions by our citizens, against any foreign government, or 
people, with ivhom ive are at peace. 

Your particular and most serious attention is requested to 
the provisions of an act entitled "An Act to punish certain 
ofiences against the United States." 

By the first section of this act it is declared, " that if any 
citizen of the United States shall, within the territory or juris- 
diction thereof, accept and exercise a commission to serA^e a 
foreign prince, state, colony, district, or people, with whom the 
United States are at peace, he shall be deemed guilty of a high 
misdemeanor, and be fined not more than two thousand dollars, 
and imprisoned not exceeding three years." 

And in the sixth section, it is provided " that if any person 
shall, within the territory or jurisdiction of the United States, 
begin to set on foot, or provide or prepare the means for, any 



92 THE HON. JOHN M'LEAN. 

military expedition or enterprise to be carried on from thence, 
against the territory or dominion of any foreign prince or state, 
or of any colony, district, or people, with whom the United 
States are at peace, every person, so offending, shall be deemed 
guilty of a high misdemeanor, and shall be fined not exceeding 
three thousand dollars, and imprisoned not more than three 
years." 

There are many other acts prohibited by this law, which 
relate to foreign powers, and which may be presented for your 
examination ; but the above sections are considered the most 
important. 

The offence in the first section consists in " accepting and 
exercising a commission," to carry on war against any people 
or state with whom we are at peace. 

The commission may be conferred by any district of coun- 
try, or association of people, whose right to confer it shall be 
recognized by the person appointed. And it is immaterial 
whether the commission has been conferred by the popular 
voice, or by the representatives of such district, or association 
of people. 

It must have been accepted and exercised, to come within 
your jurisdiction, within this State, by a citizen of the United 
States. Some overt act, under the commission, must be done; 
such as raising men for the enterprise, collecting provisions, 
munitions of war, or any other act which shows an exercise of 
the authority which the commission is supposed to confer. 

Under the ninth section, the offence consists in beginning to 
set on foot, or providing or preparing the means for any military 
expedition or enterprise, to be carried on from the United States, 
against the territory or dominions of a foreign people or state. 

To "begin to set on foot a military expedition," is not actu- 
ally setting on foot such expedition ; but it is making such pre- 
paration for it, as shall show the intent to set it on foot. 

To "provide or prepare the means for any military expedi- 
tion or enterprise," within the law, such preparation must be 
made as shall aid the expedition. The contribution of money, 
clothing for the troops, provisions, arms, or any other contribu- 
tion which shall tend to forward the expedition, or add to the 
comfort or maintenance of those who are engaged in it, is con- 
sidered to be in violation of the law. 

These acts must all be done under such circumstances as to 
show the criminal intent, unless such intent shall be avowed. 
And it is hardly to be expected, that when an individual '3 



THE HON. JOHN M'LEAN. 93 

iboul to violate the laws of his country, he will openly declare 
his intention to do so. 

Where the act and the attendant circumstances show the 
criminal intent, no subterfuges or motives avowed, should screen 
the citizen from the consequences of such an act. 

To come within your cognizance, every violation of this law 
must have been committed within this State ; and by a citizen 
of the United States. 

These provisions are highly important, and they should be 
faithfully executed against all w^ho violate them. 

Great excitement is known to exist, at this time, in Canada, 
from certain hostile movements contemplated by citizens of this 
country, in conjunction with the disaffected subjects of that 
country. It is said on high authority, that associations of citi- 
zens of the United States have been formed along the whole 
extent of our northern boundary, with a view, at a fixed time, 
to make a descent upon Canada. That these associations em- 
brace an immense number of individuals, who are known to 
each other by certain signs and passwords. That they are 
actively engaged in collecting the materials of war, and raising 
men. That their military officers are appointed; and that, in 
anticipation of success, they have appointed civil-officers. 

1 cannot but think these accounts have been greatly exag- 
gerated, and that they may have caused an unnecessary degree 
of alarm. But that there is ground for apprehension of danger 
no one can doubt. 

During the past winter, many of our citizens were engaged 
in this lawless enterprise. This is proved by the records of 
our own courts, and the courts of Canada, and by well authen- 
ticated accounts which have been published. Indeed, it is 
notorious that organized bodies of men, though, perhaps, not 
bearing arms, were marched through the northern part of this 
and other states on our northern boundary, with the known in- 
tention of invading Canada, who were permitted to pass without 
molestation. And, it is believed, that in some instances they 
were encouraged in their enterprise by contributions of money, 
provisions, and other necessaries. 

This state of things is deeply to be lamented. When our 
citizens, generally, shall cease to respect the laws, and the high 
duties they owe to their own government, there is but a slender 
ground of hope that our institutions can be long maintained. 

An obedience to the laws is the first duty of every citizen. 
It lies at the foundation of our noble political structure ; and 



94 THE HON. JOHN M'LEAN. 

when this great principle shall be departed from, with the public 
sanction, the moral influence of our government must terminate. 

If there be any one line of policy in which all political par- 
ties agree, it is, that we should keep aloof from the agitations 
of other governments. That we shall not intermingle our na- 
tional concerns with theirs. And much more, that our citizens 
shall abstain from acts which lead the subjects of other govern- 
ments to violence and bloodshed. 

We have a striking instance of the wisdom of this policy in 
the early history of our government. 

During the administration of our first President the French 
Revolution burst forth, and astonished the civilized world. All 
Europe combined in arms against republican France. That 
France which had mingled her arms and her blood with ours 
in our struggle for independence. 

That this country should deeply sympathize with so noble, 
brave and generous an ally, in such a struggle, was natural. 
Bursts of enthusiasm were witnessed in her behalf, in almost 
every part of our country, and an ardent desire was evinced to 
make common cause with her in favour of liberty. And this 
was claimed of our country as a debt of gratitude, and on the 
ground of treaty stipulations. 

Had this tide of popular feeling, which threatened to bear 
down everything in its course, not been checked, our destinies 
would have been united with those of France. We might have 
participated in her military glory, and in the renown of her 
heroes. And the struggles in which we would have been in- 
volved might have given birth to a race of heroes in our own 
country, whose deeds of chivalry would have been celebrated 
in history. But our country would have been wasted by war 
and rapine ; and the pen of the historian, which recorded the 
deeds of our heroes, would also have told, in all probability, 
that our country, like France, was driven to take refuge from 
the turbulence of party factions, under a splendid military des- 
potism. 

Fortunately for the country, Washington lived, and the vene- 
ration in which his name was held, and the authority he exer- 
cised, mainly contributed to check the excitement, and preserve 
the peace and lasting prosperity of the country. 

The struggles of the people of South America against the 
oppressions of their own government, again awakened the sym- 
pathies of our country, and produced a strong desire in many 
to unite our fortune with theirs. But this feeling was controlled, 
and the neutrality and peace of our country were preserved. 



THE HON. JOHN M'LEAN. 95 

A government is justly held responsible for the acts of its 
citizens. And if this government be unable or unwilling to 
restrain our citizens from acts of hostility against a friendly 
power, such power may hold this nation answerable, and de- 
clare war against it. Every citizen is, therefore, bound by the 
regard he has for his country, by his reverence for its laws, 
and by the calamitous consequences of war, to exert his influ- 
ence in suppressing the unlawful enterprises of our citizens 
against any foreign and friendly power. 

History affords no example of a nation or people, that uni- 
formly took part in the internal commotions of other govern- 
ments, which did not bring down ruin upon themselves. These 
pregnant examples should guard us against a similar policy, 
which must lead to a similar result. 

In every community will be found a floating mass of adven- 
turers, ready to embrace any cause, and to hazard any conse- 
quences, which shall be likely to make their condition better. 
And, it is believed, that a large portion of our citizens, who 
have been engaged in military enterprises against Canada, are 
of this description. 

That many patriotic and honourable men were at first in- 
duced, by their sympathies, to countenance the movement, if 
not to aid it, is probable. But, when these individuals found 
that this course was forbidden by the laws of their country, 
and by its highest interests, they retraced their steps. But, it 
is believed that there are many who persevere in their course, 
in defiance of the law and the interests of their country. Such 
individuals might be induced to turn their arms against their 
own government, under circumstances favourable to their suc- 
cess. 

These violators of the law should not escape with impunity. 
The aid of every good citizen will be given to arrest them in 
their progress, and bring them to justice. They show them- 
selves to be enemies of their country, by trampling under foot 
its laws, compromising its honour, and involving it in the most 
serious embarrassment with a foreign and friendly nation. It 
is, indeed, lamentable to reflect that such men, under such cir- 
cumstances, may hazard the peace of the country. 

If they were to come out in array against their own govern- 
ment, the consequences to it would be far less serious. In 
such an effort they could not involve it in much bloodshed, or 
in a heavy expenditure ; nor would its commerce and general 
business be materially injured. But, a war with a powerful 
nation, with whom we have the most extensive relations, com- 



96 THE HON. JOHN M'LEAN. 

mereial and social, would bring down upon our country the 
heaviest calamity. It would dry up the sources of its pros- 
perity and deluge it in blood. 

The great principles of our republican institutions cannot be 
propagated by the sword. This can be done by moral force, 
and not physical. 

If we desire the political regeneration of oppressed nations, 
we must show them the simplicity, the grandeur, and the free- 
dom of our own government. We must recommend it to the 
intelligence and virtue of other nations by its elevated and en- 
lightened action, its purity, its justice, and the protection it 
affords to all its citizens, and the liberty they enjoy. And if, 
in this respect, we shall be faithful to the high bequests of our 
fathers, to ourselves, and to posterity, we shall do more to libe- 
ralize other governments and emancipate their subjects, than 
could be accomplished by millions of bayonets. 

This moral power is what tyrants have most cause to dread. 
It addresses itself to the thoughts and the judgments of men. 
No physical force can arrest its progress. Its approaches are 
unseen, but its consequences are deeply felt. It enters garri- 
sons most strongly fortified, and operates in the palaces of 
kings and emperors. 

We should cherish this power as essential to the preserva- 
tion of our own government; and as the most efficient means 
of ameliorating the political condition of our race. And this 
can only be done by a reverence for the laws, and by the exer- 
cise of an elevated patriotism. 

But if we trample under our feet the laws of our country; if 
we disregard the faith of treaties, and our citizens engage with- 
out restraint in military enterprises against the peace of other 
governments, we shall be considered and treated, and justly too, 
as a nation of pirates. 

Punishments, under the law, can only be inflicted through 
the instrumentality of the judicial department of the government. 
The federal executive has shown a zeal worthy of the highest 
commendation in his endeavour to check the career of these 
enemies of social order. He has very properly employed a 
part of the military force of the country in this service; and he 
has solemnly warned and admonished these deluded citizens, 
who seem ready to carry devastation into the neighbouring pro- 
vince of a foreign and friendly power. These efforts of the 
President are in aid of the civil power, which, I trust, will not 
be found wanting on this, or any other emergency, in the dis- 
charge of the great duties which have been devolved upon it 



THE HON. JOHN M'LEAN. 97 

by the constitution and laws. But in vain will the civil au- 
thority be exerted unless it shall be aided by the moral force 
of the country. If the hands of the ministers of justice were 
not strengthened by public sentiment, how ineirectually would 
they be raised for the suppression of crime. If the open vio- 
lator of the law be cherished by society, he may, with impu- 
nity, set at defiance the organs of the law. The statute book 
which contains the catalogue of offences would then become a 
dead letter, and would be a standing monument of deeply 
seated corruption in the public, 

I invoke, in behalf of the tribunals of justice, the moral power 
of society. I ask it to aid them in suppressing a combination 
of deluded or abandoned citizens, which imminendy threatens 
the peace and prosperity of the country. And I have no fears, 
that when public attention shall be roused on this deeply im- 
portant subject; when the laws are understood, and the duties 
of the government; and when the danger is seen, and properly 
appreciated, there will be an expression so potent from an en- 
lightened and patriotic people, as to suppress all combinations 
in violation of the laws, and which threaten the peace of the 
country. 



98 



THE HONOURABLE DANIEL WEBSTER, 
Member of the Senate fok Massachusetts, 

AND 

THE HONOURABLE RUFUS CHOATE, 
Of Boston. 

It was to my extreme regret that Mr. Webster, whose pow- 
erful eloquence has so frequently been, in my own country, the 
theme of applause, both from the lips of Englishmen and of 
Americans, did not once, during my stay in Washington, speak 
in the Senate ; and only once, for a very short time, in the Su- 
preme Court ; and he was even at that time suffering from a 
severe attack of indisposition. His speeches on the Oregon 
Question, and on Free, or rather on Fettered, Trade, were de- 
livered, unhappily for me, after I had left the City. I was able, 
however, from the short specimen I heard in the Patent Case,* 
to form some faint conception of his overpowering influence, 
when, in the full tide of argument and feeling, he pours forth 
that irresistible volume of words, which, by many, has been said 
to rival, and by some, to excel, the torrent of Demosthenes, 
■i His English, pure, and bold, and massive, is moulded by severe 
\ and classic taste, to convey the conceptions of a mind of vast 
\ proportions. In the knowledge and comprehension of all sub- 
jects connected with the sciences of Law and Government, he 
is a master, and has attained the distinguished appellation of 
" expounder of the Constitution." Instinctively perceiving at 
a glance the bearings of a doctrine, the results of a principle, 
the future power of a precedent, nay, even the value of a word, 
a syllable, a letter, Mr. Webster, like the watch-dog, is ever 
awake, and listening for the sounds of trespass ; he observes, 
with scrutinizing eye, the perpetual variations, and their effects, 
which inevitably spring up in the progressive development of 
a youthful government, the forms of which are, as yet, experi- 
mental, though the elements are fixed and incapable of change. 
The examination of the existing powers and limits of the Con- 
stitution of the Republic, and of the future influences of these 

* Mr. Webster was associated with Mr. Seward in the Patent Case. An 
extract from Seward's brief is given at page 41. 



THE HON. DANIEL WEBSTER. 99 

powers and limits upon extended territory and increased popu- 
lation, does now, and must continue to form, a highly import- 
ant subject of inquiry. To enlarge and adapt, according to the 
successive requirements of the country, the original model so 
admirably propounded by the Founders of the Republic, is a 
study demanding the prophetic wisdom of Ulysses ; and in this 
great purpose the mighty energies of Webster find their ap- 
pointed mission. Eminently conservative, (if the Senator will 
permit this English epithet,) it is his most earnest wish to pre- 
vent, on the side of power, any infraction of rational liberty, 
and on the side of the people, any advance beyond that modified 
restraint which results in the benefit of all. I have sometimes 
reflected with regret, that Mr. Webster has not a seat on the 
Supreme Bench ; but the Bar would thus lose one of its most 
popular advocates, and the Senate one of her noblest pillars. 

The abilities of Mr. Webster, as a statesman, are highly esti- 
mated by the English, by his party, and by the State of Mas- 
sachusetts, of whose policy he has ever been the strenuous, 
though not uncandid, defender. His wishes on the Oregon 
Question were those of Peace, and he threw into the scale all 
the weight of his great name. His celebrated speech at Boston 
touched the heart of every Englishman. With regard to the 
North-Eastern boundary, I have heard all Americans say, that 
America had the worst of it, and all Englishmen say precisely 
the same thing of England, consequently, there can be no rea- 
sonable doubt that it was the most just and even-handed Treaty 
that could be made, equally creditable to the Commissioners 
on either side. 

Mr. Webster is the son of an estatesman or farmer, in New 
Hampshire ; he has fulfilled many public offices with zeal and 
ability, and may justly be called a chief in that band of illus- 
trious statesmen whose lives are given to their country, and 
whose highest hope is her applause. .^.^ 

The admirable head, and powerful form of Mr. AVebster, ) 
make him everywhere conspicuous ; the brow is ample ; the 
eye deep-sunk, and dark, and seated immediately below the 
strongly-marked, and shaggy eyebrow ; the features and contour 
denote, most expressively, the strength of every mental faculty, 
reflection, judgment, memory, analysis, are all there ; the coun- 
tenance, in repose, sometimes becomes absent and thoughtful, 
and has the expression of an inward employment of the rea- - 
soning powers, independent of all external objects, and for the 
time wholly forgetful of their presence, and then, as if the 
mental exercise had resulted in the most undoubted conviction, 



100 THE HON. DANIEL WEBSTER. 

tj[he whole face becomes radiant with intelligence and animation. 
The contrast and transition of expression are very fine. The 
busts of Mr. Webster, to my taste, represent him more truly 
than his portraits ; there is a marble head in the Athenaeum, at 
Boston, which is magnificent. He is always prepared, his 
mind is ijaW charged with knowledge, and his information is 
always at hand. 

On one occasion, I was struck with the admiration he evinced 
for a brother advocate. The scene was imposing. Rufus 
Choate, of Boston, was pleading against a sister state for Massa- 
chusetts. Rhode Island contested her Boundary Line, and 
each state sent forth her ablest champions to defend her rights. 
For two successive days Mr. Choate vindicated the claims of 
Massachusetts in the Supreme Court of the United States. I 
have no words to describe the extraordinary effort of this re- 
markable man. The fluency, rapidity, and beauty of his 
language, his earnest manner, his excited action, and his whole 
being, conflicting with the most intense emotion; he was all 
nerve, each sense, each faculty was absorbed in the great duty 
of the day ; and sometimes it seemed that tears alone could 
relieve the uncontrollable agitation which thrilled through his 
frame, and quivered on his lip, and trembled in his voice; the 
strong nerve of a man alone enabled him to command his 
struggling feelings ; for an instant he paused, and then again 
gushed forth his words clothed in each form of argument and 
persuasion, that the reach of mind and knowledge can suggest 
or use. His memory supplied quotations, learned and to the 
point; his imagination called each poetic fancy quick to his 
aid; and his voice of music attuned itself to all the varied tones 
of his discourse, awakening in every breast the sentiments and 
impressions of his own. He is the Proteus of Eloquence. 
Nor are his lesfal knowledofe and research less remarkable than 
his natural talents; his study of the Massachusetts and Rhode 
Island Case must have been most laborious and most pro- 
found ; he spoke for four hours on two successive days.* The 
subject was magnificent — the Boundary Line of rival states ; 
involving public and private rights, vested interests, family and 
local attachments, individual feelings, all these were to be pre- 
served or sacrificed ; and, above all, fame and honour were at 
stake ; and he who was sustaining the heat and burthen of the 
day, must be either signally vanquished or signally triumphant. 

* In this cause, the efforts of Mr. Choate obtained their deserved success. 
It is much to be regretted that this speech has not been preserved. 



THE HON. DANIEL WEBSTER. 101 

The Supreme Court was crowded, the Senate and the House 
being absokitely deserted. Judge M'Lean presided on the 
Bench, listening with profound attention and graceful benig- 
nity. Mr. Webster sat near Mr. Choate, with eyes rivetted 
on the speaker, and his fine countenance expressing the most 
eager interest, and the highest admiration. I was near them 
all, in my favourite seat on the left hand of the Judges, and 
close to the desk at which Mr. Webster was seated. It is next 
to impossible that I should ever again behold such a scene. 1 
cannot say what interested me the most. The important sub- 
ject, its learned and enthusiastic advocate, the benignant Judge, 
or the generous Webster, hanging with delighted ear upon the 
accents of his gifted friend. Never, certainly, had I been be- 
fore in so high a presence ; and never shall I forget the impres- 
sions left upon my mind by these three wondrous men. 

Mr. Webster, unless when greatly occupied by business,' 
always acknowledged me in Court, and seemed amused with 
my frequent attendance there ; he once complimented me on 
my good taste and devotion to the Law. At the Astor House 
he dined with me, and, for about two hours, I enjoyed the un- 
divided privilege of his society ; these are things for an English- 
woman to remember, and to tell of, with complacency. Mr. 
Webster is sixty-four or five, but looks seven years younger; 
in society he is convivial ; it is said that he can work with the 
severest application, and prepare for any occasion with wonder- 
ful precision and rapidity. Many traits of his profound mind, 
his attainments, the character of his eloquence, his zeal in 
maintaining the purity of the Constitution, his love of peace, 
remind me forcibly of what I have heard and read of the 
Charles James Fox, of England. 



EXTRACTS FROM THE SPEECH OF MR. WEBSTER, 
Isr THE Senate of the United States, 

On the Resolution of Mr. Foote, respeclinp; the Sale, Sfc. of 
Public Lands — January, 1830. 

The resolution was introduced on the 29th of December, 
1829, as follows: — 

'"'' Resolved, — That the committee on Public Lands be in- 
structed to inquire and report the quantity of public lands 
remaining unsold within each State and Territory. Jind 



102 THE HON. DANIEL WEBSTER. 

ivhether it be expedient to limits for a certain period, the sales 
of the public lands to such lands only as have heretofore been 
offered for sale, and are now subject to entry at the minimum 
price. And, also, whether the offices of Surveyor General, 
and some of the land offices, may not be abolished without 
detriment to the public interest ; or ivhether it be expedient to 
adopt measures to hasten the sales, and extend more rapidly 
the surveys of the public lands.''^ 

On the 18th of January, Mr. Benton, of Missouri, addressed 
the Senate; and on the 19th, Mr. Hayne, of South Carolina, 
proceeded in the debate and spoke at considerable length. After 
he had concluded, Mr. Webster rose to reply, but gave way, 
on the motion of Mr. Benton for an adjournment. 

On the 20th, Mr. Webster took the floor, and after some in- 
troductory remarks, spoke as follows: 

In the first place, sir, the honourable gentleman* spoke of the 
whole course and policy of the government towards those who 
have purchased and settled the public lands ; and seemed to 
think this policy wTong. He held it to have been, from the 
first, hard and rigorous ; he was of opinion that the United 
States had acted towards those who had subdued the western 
wilderness, in the spirit of a stepmother ; that the public domain 
had been improperly regarded as a source of revenue; and that 
we had rigidly compelled payment for that which ought to have 
been given away. He said we ought to have followed the 
analogy of other governments, which had acted on a much more 
liberal system than ours, in planting colonies. He dwelt par- 
ticularly, upon the settlement of America by colonies from 
Europe ; and reminded us, that their governments had not ex- 
acted from those colonists payment for the soil; with them, he 
said, it had been thought that the conquest of the wilderness 
was, itself, an equivalent for the soil, and he lamented that we 
had not followed that example, and pursued the same liberal 
course towards our own emigrants to the West. 

Now, sir, I deny altogether that there has been anything 
harsh or severe in the policy of the government towards the 
new states of the West. On the contrary, I maintain that it 
has uniformly pursued towards those states a liberal and en- 
lightened system, such as its own duty allowed and required, 
and such as their interest and welfare demanded. The govern- 
ment has been no stepmother to the new states. She has not 
been careless of their interests, nor deaf to their requests ; but 

* M. Hayne. 



THE HON. DANIEL WEBSTER. 103 

from the first moment, when the territories which now form 
those states were ceded to the Union, down to the time in which 
I am now speaking, it has been the invariable object of the 
government to dispose of the soil according to the true spirit of 
the obligation under which it had received it; to hasten its set- 
tlement and cultivation as far and as fast as practicable ; and to 
rear the new communities into equal and independent states, at 
the earliest moment of their being able, by their numbers, to 
form a regular government. 

I do not admit, sir, that the analogy to which the gentleman 
refers us, is just, or that the cases are at all similar. There is 
no resemblance between the cases upon which a statesman can 
found an argument. The original North American colonists 
either fled from Europe, like our New England ancestors, to 
avoid persecution, or came hither at their own charges, and 
often at the ruin of their fortunes, as private adventurers. Gene- 
rally speaking, they derived neither succour nor protection from 
their governments at home. Wide, indeed, is the difference 
between those cases and ours. From the very origin of the 
government, these western lands, and the just protection of 
those who had settled or should settle on them, have been the 
leading objects in our policy, and have led to expenditures, 
both of blood and treasure, not inconsiderable; not, indeed, ex- 
ceeding the importance of the object, and not yielded grudg- 
ingly or reluctantly, certainly; but yet not inconsiderable, 
though necessary sacrifices, made for high proper ends. The 
Indian title has been extinguished at the expense of many mil- 
lions. Is that nothing? There is still a much more material 
consideration. These colonists, if we are to call them so, in 
passing the Alleghany, did not pass beyond the care and pro- 
tection of their own government. Wherever they went, the 
public arm was still stretched over them. A parental govern- 
ment at home was still ever mindful of their condition and their 
wants, and nothing was spared which a just sense of their ne- 
cessities required. Is it forgotten that it was one of the most 
arduous duties of the government, in its earliest years, to defend 
the frontiers against the north-western Indians ? Are the suffer- 
ings and misfortunes under Harmar and St. Clair not worthy 
to be remembered ? Do the occurrences connected with these 
military efforts show an unfeeling neglect of western interests ? 
And here, sir, what becomes of the gentleman's analogy ? 
What English armies accompanied our ancestors to clear the 
forests of a barbarous foe ? What treasures of the Exchequer 
were expended in buying up the original title to the soil ? What 



104 THE HON. DANIEL WEBSTER. 

governmental arm held its aegis over our fathers' heads, as they 
pioneered their way in the wilderness ? Sir, it was not till 
General AVayne's victory, in 1794, that it could be said we had 
conquered the savages. It was not till that period that the 
government could have considered itself as having established 
an entire ability to protect those who should undertake the con- 
quest of the wilderness. And here, sir, at the epoch of 1794, 
let us pause, and survey the scene. It is now thirty-five years 
since that scene actually existed. Let us, sir, look back, and 
behold it. Over all that is now Ohio, there then stretched one 
vast wilderness, unbroken, except by two small spots of civil- 
ized culture, the one at Marietta, and the other at Cincinnati. 
At these little openings, hardly each a pin's point upon the 
map, the arm of the frontier man had levelled the forest, and let 
in the sun. These little patches of earth, and themselves 
almost overshadowed by the overhanging boughs of that wil- 
derness, which had stood and perpetuated itself, from century 
to century, ever since the creation, were all that had then been 
rendered verdant by the hand of man. In anextent of hundreds 
and thousands of square miles no other surface of smiling green 
attested the presence of civilization. The hunter's path crossed 
mighty rivers flowing in solitary grandeur, whose sources lay 
in remote and unknown regions of the wilderness. It struck, 
upon the north, on a vast inland sea, over which the wintry 
tempests raged as on the ocean ; all around was bare creation. 
It was fresh, untouched, unbounded, magnificent wilderness. 
And, sir, what is it now? Is it imagination only, or can it 
possibly be fact, that presents such a change as surprises and 
astonishes us, when we turn our eyes to what Ohio now is ? Is 
it reality or a dream, that in so short a period even as thirty- 
five years there has sprung up, on the same surface, an inde- 
pendent state, with a million of people ? A million of inhabit- 
ants ! an amount of population greater than that of all the can- 
tons of Switzerland ; equal to one-third of all the people of the 
United States when they undertook to accomplish their inde- 
pendence. This new member of the republic has already left 
far behind her a majority of the old states. She is now bv the 
side of Virginia and Pennsylvania ; and, in point of numbers, 
will shortly admit no equal but New York herself. If, sir, we 
may judge of measures by their results, what lessons do these 
facts read us upon the policy of the government? What in- 
ferences do they authorize upon the general question of kind- 
ness or unkindness ? What convictions do they enforce as to 
the wisdom and ability, on the one hand, or the folly and inca- 



THE HON. DANIEL WEBSTER. 105 

pacity, on the other, of our general administration of western 
affairs ? Sir, does it not require some portion of self-respect in 
us to imagine, that if our light had shone on the path of govern- 
ment, if our wisdom could have been consulted in its measures, 
a more rapid advance to strength and prosperity would have 
been experienced? For my own part, while I am struck with 
wonder at the success, I also look with admiration at the wis- 
dom and foresight which originally arranged and prescribed the 
system for the setdement of the public domain. Its operation 
has been, without a moment's interruption, to push the settle- 
ment of the western country to the full extent of our utmost 
means. 

We approach at length, sir, to a more important part of the 
honourable gentleman's observations. Since it does not accord 
with my views of justice and policy to give away the public 
lands altogether, as mere matter of gratuity, I am asked by the 
honourable gentleman on what ground it is that I consent 
to vote them away in particular instances? How, he in- 
quires, do I reconcile with these professed sentiments, my 
support of measures appropriating portions of the lands to par- 
ticular roads, particular canals, particular rivers, and particular 
institutions of education in the West ? This leads, sir, to the 
real and wide difference in political opinion between the honour- 
able gentleman and myself. On my part, I look upon all these 
objects as connected with the common good, fairly embraced 
in its object and its terms : he, on the contrary, deems them 
all, if good at all, only local good. This is our difference. The 
interrogatory which he proceeded to put at once explains this 
difference. " What interest," asks he, " has South Carolina in 
a canal in Ohio ?" Sir, this very question is full of signifi- 
cance. It develops the gendeman's whole political system ; 
and its answer expounds mine. Here we differ. I look upon 
a road over the Alleghany, a canal round the falls of the Ohio, 
or a canal or railway from the Atlantic to the western waters, 
as being an object large and extensive enough to be fairly 
said to be for the common benefit. The gentlem.an thinks 
otherwise, and this is the key to open his construction of the 
powers of the government. He may well ask what interes-t 
has South Carolina in a canal in Ohio ? On his system, it is 
true, she has no interest. On that system, Ohio and Carolina 
are different governments and different countries ; connected 
here, it is true, by some slight and ill-defined bond of union, 
but in all main respects, separate and diverse. On that sys- 
tem, Carolina has no more interest in a canal in Ohio than in 



106 THE HON. DANIEL WEBSTER. 

Mexico. The gentleman, therefore, only follows out his own 
principles ; he does no more than arrive at the natural conclu- 
sions of his own doctrines ; he only announces the true re- 
sults of that creed which he has adopted himself, and would 
persuade others to adopt, when he thus declares that South 
Carolina has no interest in a public work in Ohio. Sir, we 
narrow-minded people of New England do not reason thus. 
Our notion of things is entirely different. We look upon the 
states not as separated, but as united. We love to dwell on 
that union, and on the mutual happiness which it has so much 
promoted, and the common renown which it has so greatly 
contributed to acquire. In our contemplation, Carolina and 
Ohio are part of the same country ; states, united under the 
same general government, having interests common, associated, 
intermingled. In whatever is within the proper sphere of the 
constitutional power of this government, we look upon the 
states as one. We do not impose geographical limits to our 
patriotic feeling or regard ; we do not follow rivers and moun- 
tains, and lines of latitude, to find boundaries bevond which 
public improvements do not benefit us. We who come here 
as agents and representatives of these narrow-minded and self- 
ish men of New England, consider ourselves as bound to re- 
gard, \^^ith an equal eye, the good of the whole in whatever is 
within our power of legislation. Sir, if a railroad or canal, 
beginning in South Carolina and ending in South Carolina ap- 
peared to me to be of national importance and national magni- 
tude, believing, as I do, that the power of government extends 
to the encouragement of works of that description, if I were 
to stand up here, and ask, what interest has Massachusetts in 
a railroad in South Carolina, I should not be willing to face mv 
constituents. These same narrow-minded men would tell me 
that they had sent me to act for the whole country, and that 
one who possessed too little comprehension, either of intellect 
or feeling ; one who was not large enough, both in mind and 
in heart, to embrace the whole, was not fit to be entrusted with 
the interest of any part. Sir, I do not desire to enlarge the 
powers of the government by unjustifiable construction, nor to 
exercise any not within a fair interpretation. But when it is 
believed that a power does exist, then it is, in my judgment, to 
be exercised for the general benefit of the whole. So far as 
respects the exercise of such a power, the states are one. It 
was the very object of the constitution to create unity of in- 
terests to the extent of the powers of the general government. 
In war and peace we are one, in commerce one, because the 



•THE HON. DANIEL WEBSTER. 107 

authority of the general government reaches to war and peace, 
and to the regulation of commerce. I have never seen any more 
difficulty in erecting lighthouses on the lakes than on the ocean ; in 
improving the harbours of inland seas than if they were within 
the ebb and flow of the tide ; or of removing obstructions in 
the vast streams of the West, more than in any work to facili- 
tate commerce on the Atlantic coast. If there be any power 
for one, there is power also for the other ; and they are all and 
equally for the common good of the country. 

Consolidation ! — that perpetual cr}^ both of terror and delu- 
sion — Consolidation ! Sir, when gentlemen speak of the effects 
of a common fund belonorino- to all the states as having a tend- 
ency to consolidation, what do they mean? Do they mean, 
or can they mean, anything more than that the union of the 
states will be strengthened by whatever continues or furnishes 
inducements to the people of the states to hold together? If 
they mean merely this, then, no doubt, the public lands, as 
well as everything else in which we have a common interest, 
tends to consolidation; and to this species of consolidation every 
true American ought to be attached; it is neither more nor less 
than strenoftheninsfthe Union itself. This is the sense in which 
the framers of the constitution use the word consolidation ; and 
in which sense I adopt and cherish it. They tell us, in the 
letter submitting the constitution to the consideration of the 
country, that " In all our deliberations on this subject, we kept 
steadily in our view that which appears to us the greatest 
interest of every true American, the consolidation of our Union, 
in which is involved our prosperity, felicity, safety, perhaps 
our national existence. This important consideration, seriously 
and deeply impressed on our minds, led each state in the con- 
vention to be less rigid on points of inferior magnitude, than 
might have been otherwise expected." 

This, sir, is General Washington's consolidation. This is the 
true constitutional consolidation. I wish to see no new powers 
drawn to the general government; but, I confess I rejoice in 
whatever tends to strengthen the bond that unites us, and 
encourages the hope that our union may be perpetual. 

I shall not acknowledge that the honourable member goes 
before me in regard for whatever of distinguished talent, or 
distinguished character. South Carolina has produced. I claim 
part of the honour, I partake in the pride of her great names. 
I claim them for countrymen, one and all. The Laurenses, 
the Rutledges, the Pinckneys, the Sumpters, the Marions — 
Americans all — whose fame is no more to be hemmed in by 



108 THE HON. DANIEL WEBSTER. 

state lines, tlian their talents and patriotism were capable of 
being circumscribed within the same narrow limits. In their 
day and generation they served and honoured the country, and 
the whole country; and their renown is of the treasures of the 
whole country. Him, whose honoured name the gentleman 
himself bears, does he esteem me less capable of gratitude for 
his patriotism, or sympathy for his sufferings, than if his eyes 
had first opened upon the light of Massachusetts, instead of 
South Carolina? Sir, does he suppose it in his power to 
exhibit a Carolina name so bright as to produce envy in my 
bosom ? No, sir, increased gratification and delight rather. I 
thank God, that if I am gifted with little of the spirit which is 
able to raise mortals to the skies, I have yet none, as I trust, 
of that other spirit which would drag angels down. When I 
shall be found, sir, in my place here, in the Senate, or else- 
where, to sneer at public merit because it happens to spring up 
beyond the little limits of my own state or neighbourhood; 
when I refuse for any such cause, or for any cause, the homage 
due to American talent, to elevated patriotism, to sincere de- 
votion to liberty and the country; or, if I see an uncommon 
endowment of Heaven, if I see extraordinary capacity and 
virtue in any son of the South, and, if moved by local preju- 
dice, or gangrened by state jealousy, I get up here to abate the 
tithe of a hair from his just character and just fame, may my 
tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth! 

Sir, let me recur to pleasing recollections — let me indulge 
in refreshing remembrance of the past — let me remind you that 
in early times no states cherished greater harmony, both of 
principle and feeling, than Massachusetts and South Carolina. 
Would to God that harmony might again return ! Shoulder to 
shoulder they went through the revolution — hand in hand they 
stood round the Administration of Washington, and felt his 
own great arm lean on them for support. Unkind feeling, if it 
exist, alienation and distrust, are the growth, unnatural to such 
soils, of false principles since sown. They are weeds, the 
seeds of which that same great arm never scattered. 

Mr. President, I shall enter on no encomiums upon Massa- 
chusetts ; she needs none. There she is — behold her, and 
judge for yourselves. There is her history ; the world knows 
it by heart. The past, at least, is secure. There is Boston, 
and Concord, and Lexington, and Bunker's Hill, and there 
thev will remain for ever. The bones of her sons, fallino^ in 
the great struggle for Independence, now lie mingled with the 
soil of every state from New England to Georgia, and there 



THE HON. DANIEL WEBSTER. 109 

they will lie for ever. And, sir, where American Liberty raised 
its first voice, and where its youth was nurtured and sustained, 
there it still lives in the strength of its manhood, and full of its 
original spirit. If discord and disunion shall wound it ; if 
party strife and blind ambition shall hawk at and tear it ; if 
folly and madness ; if uneasiness under salutary and necessary 
restraint shall succeed to separate it from that union by which 
alone its existence is made sure, it will stand in the end by the 
side of that cradle in which its infancy was rocked ; it will 
stretch forth its arm with whatever of vigor it may still retain 
over the friends who gather round it ; and it will fall at last, if 
fall it must, amidst the proudest monuments of its own glory, 
and on the very spot of its origin. 

-;c *ic ^ TfT ifz rp vf» 

This leads us to inquire into the origin of this government, 
and the source of its power. Whose agent is it? Is it the 
creature of the state legislatures, or the creature of the people ? 
If the government of the United States be the agent of the state 
governments, then they may control it, provided they can 
agree in the manner of controlling it ; if it be the agent of the 
people, then the people alone can control it, restrain it, modify, 
or reform it. It is observable enough that the doctrine for 
which the honourable gentleman contends leads him to the ne- 
cessity of maintaining not only that this general government is 
the creature of the states, but that it is the creature of each of 
the states severally; so that each may assert the power for 
itself of determining whether it acts within the limits of its 
authority. It is the servant of four-and-twenty masters, of 
different wills and different purposes, and yet bound to obey 
all. This absurdity (for it seems no less) arises from a mis- 
conception as to the origin of this government and its true cha- 
racter. It is, sir, the people's constitution, the people's govern- 
ment ; made for the people, made by the people, and answera- 
ble to the people. The people of the United States have 
declared that this constitution shall be the supreme law. We 
must either admit the proposition or dispute their authority. 
The states are unquestionably sovereign, so far as their sove- 
reignty is not affected by this supreme law. But the state 
legislatures as political bodies, however sovereign, are yet not 
sovereign over the people. So far as the people have given 
power to the general government, so far the grant is unques- 
tionably good, and the government holds of the people, and not 
of the state governments. We are all agents of the same 
supreme power, the people. The general government and the 



110 THE HON. DANIEL WEBSTER. 

state governments derive their authority from the same source. 
Neither can, in relation to the other, be called primary, though 
one is definite and restricted, and the other general and re- 
siduary. The national government possesses those powers 
which it can be shown the people have conferred on it, and 
no more. All the rest belongs to the state governments or to 
the people themselves. So far as the people have restrained 
state sovereignty by the expression of their will in the consti- 
tution of the United States, so far, it must be admitted, state 
sovereignty is effectually controlled. I do not contend that it 
is or ought to be controlled farther. The sentiment to which 
I have referred propounds that state sovereignty is only to be 
controlled by its own "feeling of justice ;" that is to say, it is 
not to be controlled at all; for one who is to follow his own 
feelings is under no legal control. Now, however men may 
think this ought to be, the fact is, that the people of the United 
States have chosen to impose control on state sovereignties. 
There are those, doubtless, who wish they had been left with- 
out restraint ; but the constitution has ordered the matter differ- 
ently. To make war, for instance, is an exercise of sovereignty ; 
but the constitution declares that no state shall make war. To 
coin money is another exercise of sovereign power ; but no 
state is at liberty to coin money. Again, the constitution says 
that no sovereign state shall be so sovereign as to make a treaty. 
The people, then, sir, erected this government. They gave 
it a constitution, and in that constitution they have enumerated 
the powers which they bestow on it. They have made it a 
limited government; they have defined its authority; they have 
restrained it to the exercise of such powers as are granted ; and 
all others, they declare, are reserved to the states, or the people. 
But, sir, they have not stopped here. If they had, they would 
have accomplished but half their work. No definition can be 
so clear as to avoid possibility of doubt; no limitation so pre- 
cise as to exclude all uncertainty. Who, then, shall construe 
this grant of the people ? Who shall interpret their will where 
it may be supposed they have left it doubtful? With whom 
do they repose this ultimate right of deciding on the powers 
of the government? Sir, they have settled all this in the fullest 
manner. They have left it with the government itself, in its 
appropriate branches. Sir, the very chief end, the main de- 
sign for which the whole constitution was framed and adopted, 
was to establish a government that should not be obliged to act 
through state agency, or depend on state opinion and state dis- 
cretion. The people had had quite enough of that kind of 



THE HON. DANIEL WEBSTER. HI 

government under the confederacy. Under that system the 
legal action, the appUcation of hiw to individuals, bclong-ed ex- 
clusively to the states. Congress could only recommend ; their 
acts were not of binding force till the states had adopted and 
sanctioned them! Are we in that condition still? Arc we yet 
at the mercy of state discretion and state construction ? Sir, if 
we are, then vain will be our attempt to maintain the constitu- 
tion under which we sit. 

But, sir, the people have wisely provided in the constitution 
itself a proper, suitable mode and tribunal for settling questions 
of constitutional law. There are in the constitution grants of 
powers to Congress, and restrictions on these powers. There 
are also prohibitions on the states. Some authority must, 
therefore, necessarily exist, having the ultimate jurisdiction to 
fix and ascertain the interpretation of these grants, restrictions 
and prohibitions. The constitution has itself pointed out, 
ordained and established that authority. How has it accom- 
plished this great and essential end? By declaring, sir, that 
*'//ie constitution and the laivs of the United States, made in 
jmrsuance thereof, shall be the supreme law of the land, any- 
thing in the constitution or laivs of any state to the contrary 
notwithstandiiig y 

This, sir, was the first great step. By this the supremacy 
of the constitution and laws of the United States is declared. 
The people so will it. No state law is to be valid which comes 
in conflict with the constitution, or any law of the United States 
passed in pursuance of it. But who shall decide this question 
of interference? To whom lies the last appeal? This, sir, 
the constitution itself decides also, by declaring, ''''that the 
judicial power shall extend to all cases arising under the 
constitution and laivs of the United States.''^ These two 
provisions, sir, cover the whole ground; they are, in truth, the 
keystone of the arch. With these it is a constitution; without 
them it is a confederacy. In pursuance of these clear and 
express provisions. Congress established, at its very first session 
in the judicial act, a mode for carrying them into full effect, 
and for bringing all questions of constitutional power to the 
final decision of the supreme court. It then, sir, became a 
government; it then had the means of self-protection, and, but 
for this, it would in all probability have been now among things 
which are past. Having constituted the government and de- 
clared its powers, the people have further said, that since 
somebody must decide on the extent of these powers, the 
government shall itself decide — subject, always, like other 



112 THE HON. DANIEL WEBSTER. 

popular governments, to its responsibility to the people. And 
now, sir, I repeat, how is it that a state legislature acquires any 
power to interfere? Who or what gives them the right to say 
to the people, " We, who are your agents and servants for one 
purpose, v/ill undertake to decide that your other agents and 
servants, appointed by you for another purpose, have trans- 
cended the authority you gave them." The reply would be, 
I think, not impertinent — " Who made you a judge over ano- 
ther's servants? To their own masters they stand or fall." 

Sir, I deny this power of state legislatures altogether. It 
cannot stand the test of examination. Gentlemen may say 
that, in an extreme case, a state government might protect the 
people from intolerable oppression. Sir, in such a case, the 
people might protect themselves without the aid of the state 
governments. Such a case warrants revolution. It must 
make, when it comes, a law for itself. A nullifying act of a 
state legislature cannot alter the case, nor make resistance anv 
more lawful. In maintaining these sentiments, sir, I am but 
asserting the rights of the people. I state what they have de- 
clared, and insist on their right to declare it. They have 
chosen to repose this power in the general government, and I 
think it my duty to support it like other constitutional powers. 

Mr. President, I have thus stated the reasons of my dissent 
from the doctrines which have been advanced and maintained. 
I am conscious of having detained you and the Senate much 
too long. I was drawn into the debate with no previous de- 
liberation such as is suited to the discussion of so grave and 
important a subject. But it is a subject of which my heart is 
full, and I have not been willing to suppress the utterance of 
its spontaneous sentiments. I cannot, even now, persuade my- 
self to relinquish it, without expressing, once more, my deep 
conviction, that, since it respects nothing less than the union of 
the states, it is of most vital and essential importance to the 
public happiness. I profess, sir, in my career hitherto, to have 
kept steadily in view the prosperity and honour of the whole 
country, and the preservation of our federal union. It is to that 
union we owe our safety at home, and our consideration and 
dignity abroad. It is to that union that we are chiefly indebted 
for whatever makes us most proud of our country. That union 
we reached only by the discipline of our virtues in the severe 
school of adversity. It had its origin in the necessities of dis- 
ordered finance, prostrate commerce, and ruined credit. Under 
these benign influences these great interests immediately awoke 
as from the dead, and sprang forth with newness of life. Every 



THE HON. DANIEL WEBSTER. 113 

year of its duration has teemed with fresh proofs of its utility 
and its blessings ; and, although our territory has stretched out 
wider and wider, and our population spread farther and farther, 
they have not outrun its protection or its benefits. It has been 
to us all a copious fountain of national, social, and personal 
happiness. I have not allowed myself, sir, to look beyond the 
union, to see what might lie hidden in the dark recess behind. 
I have not coolly weighed the chances of preserving liberty 
when the bonds that unite us together shall be broken asunder. 
I have not accustomed myself to hang over the precipice of 
disunion, to see whether, with my short sight, I can fathom the 
depth of the abyss below ; nor could I regard him as a safe 
counsellor in the aflairs of this government whose thoughts 
should be mainly bent on considering, not how the union should 
be best preserved, but how tolerable might be the condition of 
the people when it shall be broken up and destroyed. While 
the union lasts, we have high, exciting, gratifying prospects 
spread out before us, for us and our children. Beyond that I 
seek not to penetrate the evil. God grant that in my day, at 
least, that curtain may not rise. God grant, that on my vision 
never may be opened what lies behind. When my eyes shall 
be turned to behold, for the last time, the sun in heaven, may I 
not see him shining on the broken and dishonoured fragments 
of a once glorious union ; on states dissevered, discordant, bel- 
ligerent ; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may 
be, in fraternal blood ! Let their last feeble and lingering glance 
rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the republic, now known 
and honoured throughout the earth, still full high advanced, its 
arms and trophies streaming in their original lustre, not a stripe 
erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured ; bearing for its 
motto no such miserable interrogatory as. What is all this 
worth? Nor those other words of delusion and folly. Liberty 
Jirst, and Union afterwards ; but everywhere, spread all over 
in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds, as 
they float over the sea and over the land, and in every wind 
under the whole heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every 
true American heart — Liberty and Union, now and forever, 
one and inseparable ! 



8 



114 THE HON. DANIEL WEBSTER. 



EXTRACT FROM A DISCOURSE 

Delivered at Plymouth, i?i Commemoration of the First 
Settlement of New England. Dec. 22, 1820. 

Let ns rejoice that we behold this day. Let us be thankful 
that we have lived to see the bright and happy breaking of the 
auspicious morn which commences the third century of the 
history of New England. Auspicious indeed ; bringing a happi- , 
ness beyond the common allotment of Providence to men ; full 
of present joy, and gilding with bright beams the prospect of 
futurity, is the dawn that awakens us to the commemoration of 
the landing of the Pilgrims. 

Living at an epoch which naturally marks the progress of 
the history of our native land, we have come hither to celebrate 
the great event with which that history commenced. For 
ever honoured be this, the place of our fathers' refuge ! For 
ever remembered the day which saw them, weary and dis- 
tressed, broken in everything but spirit, poor in all but faith 
and courage, at last secure from the dangers of wintry seas, 
and impressing this shore with the first footsteps of civilized, 
man ! 

It is a noble faculty of our nature which enables us to con- 
nect our thoughts, our sympathies and our happiness with 
what is distant, in place or time ; and, looking before and after, 
to hold communion at once with our ancestors and our posterity. 
Human and mortal although we are, we are nevertheless not 
mere insulated beings, without relation to the past or the future. 
Neither the point of time, nor the spot of earth in which we 
physically live, bounds our rational and intellectual enjoyments. 
We live in the past by a knowledge of its history ; and in the 
future, by hope and anticipation. By ascending to an associa- 
tion with our ancestors; by contemplating their example, and 
studying their character ; by partaking their sentiments, and 
imbibing their spirit; by accompanying them in their toils; by 
sympathizing in their sufferings, and rejoicing in their suc- 
cesses and their triumphs, we mingle our own existence with 
theirs, and seem to belong to their age. We become their 
contemporaries, live the lives which they lived, endure what 
they endured, and partake in the rewards which they enjoyed. 
And in like manner, by running along the line of future time, 
by contemplating the probable fortunes of those who are coming 



THE HON. DANIEL WEBSTER. 115 

after us; by attempting something which may promote their 
happiness, and leave some not dishonourable memorial of our- 
selves for their regard when we shall sleep with the fathers, we 
protract our own earthly being, and seem to crowd whatever is 
future, as well as all that is past, into the narrow compass of 
our earthly existence. As it is not a vain and false, but an ex- 
alted and religious imagination, which leads us to raise our 
thoughts from the orb, which, amidst this universe of worlds, 
the Creator has given us to inhabit, and to send them with 
something of the feeling which nature prompts, and teaches to 
be proper among children of the same Eternal Parent, to the 
contemplation of the myriads of fellow beings with which his 
goodness has peopled the infinite of space; — so neither is it 
false or vain to consider ourselves as interested and connected 
with our whole race through all time ; allied to our ancestors ; 
allied to our posterity ; closely compacted on all sides with 
others ; ourselves being but links in the great chain of being, 
which begins with the origin of our race, runs onwards through 
its successive generations, binding together the past, the pre- 
sent, and the iiiture, and terminating at last with the consum- 
mation of all things earthly, at the throne of God. 

There may be, and there often is, indeed, a regard for ances- 
try which nourishes only a weak pride; as there is also a care 
for posterity which only disguises an habitual avarice, or hides 
the workings of a low and groveling vanity. But there is also 
a moral and philosophical respect for our ancestors which ele- 
vates the character and improves the heart. Next to the sense 
of religious duty and moral feeling, I hardly know what should 
bear with stronger obligation on a liberal and enlightened mind 
than a consciousness of alliance with excellence which is de- 
parted ; and a consciousness, too, that in its acts and conduct, 
and even in its sentiments and thoughts, it maybe actively 
operating on the happiness of those who come after it. Poetry 
is found to have few stronger conceptions, by which it would 
affect or overwhelm the mind, than those in which it presents 
the moving and speaking image of the departed dead to the 
senses of the living. This belongs to poetry only because it is 
congenial to our nature. Poetry is in this respect but the hand- 
maid of true philosophy and morality ; it deals with us as 
human beings naturally reverencing those Avhose visible con- 
nexion with this state of existence is severed, and who may 
yet exercise we know not what sympathy with ourselves ; — 
and when it carries us forward, also, and shows us the long 
continued result of all the good we do in the prosperity of those 



116 THE HON. DANIEL WEBSTER. 

who follow us, till it bears us from ourselves, and absorbs us 
in an intense interest for what shall happen to the generations 
after us, it speaks only in the language of our nature, and 
affects us with sentiments which belong to us as human beings. 

Standing in this relation to our ancestors and our posterity, 
we are assembled on this memorable spot to perform the duties 
which that relation, and the present occasion, impose upon us. 
We have come to this Rock to record here our homage for our 
Pilgrim Fathers ; our sympathy in their sufferings; our grati- 
tude for their labours ; our admiration of their virtues ; our 
veneration for their piety ; and our attachment to those princi- 
ples of civil and religious liberty, which they encountered 
the dangers of the ocean, the storms of heaven, the violence of 
savages, disease, exile, and famine, to enjoy and to establish. — 
And we would leave here, also, for the generations which are 
rising up rapidly to fill our places, some proof that we have 
endeavoured to transmit the great inheritance unimpaired ; that 
in our estimate of public principles and private virtue ; in our 
veneration of religion and piety ; in our devotion to civil and 
religious liberty ; in our regard for whatever advances human 
knowledge, or improves human happiness, we are not altogether 
unworthy of our origin. 

There is a local feeling connected with this occasion too 
strong to be resisted — a sort of genius of the place — which in- 
spires and awes us. We feel that we are on the spot where the 
first scene of our history was laid : where the hearths and altars 
of New England were first placed ; where Christianity and 
civilization and letters made their first lodgement in a vast 
extent of country, covered with a wilderness, and peopled by 
roving barbarians. We are here at the season of the year at 
which the event took place. The imagination irresistibly and 
rapidly draws around us the principal features and the leading 
characters in the original scene. We cast our eyes abroad on 
the ocean, and we see where the little bark, with the interesting 
group upon its deck, made its slow progress to the shore. We 
look around us, and behold the hills and promontories where 
the anxious eyes of our fathers first saw the places of habitation 
and of rest. We feel the cold which benumbed, and listen to 
the winds which pierced them. Beneath us is the Rock on 
which New England received the feet of the Pilgrims. We 
seem even to behold them, as they struggle with the elements, 
and, with toilsome efforts, gain the shore. We hsten to the 
chiefs in council ; we see the unexampled exhibition of female 
fortitude and resignation ; we hear the whisperings of youthful 



THE HON. EDWARD HANNEGAN. 117 

impatience ; and we see, what a painter of our own has also 
represented by his pencil, chilled and shivering childhood, 
houseless but for a mother's arms, couchless but for a mother's 
breast, till our own blood almost freezes. The mild dignity of 
Carver and of Bradford ; the decisive and soldier-like air and 
manner of Standish ; the devout Brewster; the enterprising 
Allerton; the general firmness and thoughtfulness of the 
whole band; their conscious joy for dangers escaped; their 
deep solicitude about dangers to come ; their trust in Heaven ; 
their high religious faith, full of confidence and anticipation ; — 
all of these seem to belong to this place, and to be present upon 
this occasion, to fill us with reverence and admiration. 



THE HONOURABLE EDWARD HANNEGAN, 
Senator for the State of Indiana. 

This is a genuine son of the West; ardent, impulsive and 
undaunted ; thinking, acting and daring with the most perfect 
freedom. His spirit is youthful and buoyant, and he is ever 
sanguine of success, though he feels acutely the bitterness of 
disappointment. The character of the Western men has been 
greatly misunderstood, even by the other sections of the Union ; 
they have their faults like all the world beside, but they are the 
faults of youth, and are corrigible, because they proceed not 
from neutrality, but from exuberance of character; not from 
the deficiency, but from the abundance of material. If they 
are hasty and impetuous, they are also generous and forgiving ; 
indifferent to money, but eager of enterprise, patient of endur- 
ance, full of courage, regardful of the feelings of others, and 
above all men they are respectful and considerate to the female 
sex.* They are fluent of speech, quick in action, and ready 
in expedients ; they are, in fact, the very men required for the 
position they hold, that of borderers of the Republic. They 
are a new power, whose interests, although inseparably blended 
with those of the other sections of the Union, are yet distinct 
and individual ; the West but now begins to assert herself, to 

* This trait of character is said by the sages to contain the germ of every 
virtue, and some assert that it is the highest attribute of civilization. But I 
am a woman, not a philosopher, and these things are too high for me. 



118 THE HON. EDWARD HANNEGAN. 

exhibit her strength, and, ihongh yet an infant, to claim her 
share in the "balance of power;" a political mystery, which 
exists no less in a confederation of republics such as the United 
States of America, than among the several compact monarchies 
of Europe. The West has found a devoted lover in her Han- 
negan, and many a fervent vow he made to win tor her the 
Oregon, nor will these vows remain unanswered ; so sure as 
rivers run into the sea, so sure as mountains hide their heads 
in clouds, so surely will Oregon become the inheritance of the 
Americans, for it is theirs by right as well as by inevitable 
necessity. 

The robust character of the Western men, and their remote- 
ness from that peculiar kind of civilization which belongs to 
sea board and manufacturing districts, have induced an idea 
that they are deficient in the proprieties and gentle moods of 
polished life. But, on the contrary, the very circumstances of 
their condition produce these virtues. 

Show me a gentler, more affectionate nature than Edward 
Hannegan you cannot ; and, believe me, the Western men in 
general resemble him. Shall I relate some anecdotes of this, 
my friend ? When Mr. H. made his speech on the Oregon 
Question, he alluded, in terms of graceful approval, to Mr. Cal- 
houn, and, after differing from the policy of that Senator, he 
apostrophized, in terms of generous and manly eulogy, his 
genius and his virtues. I was in the gallery immediately above 
with a large party of ladies, for the wives and friends of those 
members who spoke always took great interest in their success ; 
these ladies ever regarded me as one of themselves, and I shared 
in their anxious hopes and fears that our many favourites should 
go through the ordeal with honour. We always went together 
to the Supreme Court, the Senate, or the House to listen to 
their speeches, and to cheer them by our presence ; to walk 
home with them, to sympathize in their disappointments and 
their victories, and to congratulate them when the trial was 
over. The intercourse between the statesmen and politicians 
of all parties and the ladies was of the most agreeable kind, 
and to the latter it w^as a source of great instruction ahd im- 
provement, for nothing elevates and corrects the female mind 
more than the friendship and confidence of distinguished men. 
On the occasion above alluded to, the party in the gallery were 
highly gratified, for Calhoun is precious in the sight of all ; to 
me these words of praise were delightful for the sake of both 
the Senators. In the excitement of the moment I threw down 
my glove to the speaker ; it fell at his side. The chivalrous 



THE HON. EDWARD HANNEGAN. 119 

Hannegan instantly picked it up, pressed it to his lips, looked 
gratefully up to the gallery, howed and placed it in liis bosom. 
The fortunate glove was transmitted by the next day's post to 
the lady of the Senator, then in Indiana. I preserve the less 
happy fellow to it. When the speech was ended and the 
Senate adjourned, the ladies went down to the floor. I accom- 
panied Mr. Hannegan to shake hands with Calhoun, and ex- 
pressed my wish to publish that speech in England. So much 
for the gallantry of the Senator from Indiana to an English- 
woman. Another anecdote exhibits him in a still more amiable 
light. I had a careless trick of leaving my purse upon the table 
in my parlour. Mr. Hannegan, and almost all Americans, 
have a frank and ingenuous habit of imparting advice gratui- 
tously to those with whom they are on terms of intimacy. 
Having often found the offending purse thus thoughtlessly left, 
the Senator had several times reminded me of the indiscretion 
in vain ; I was almost incorrigible. At length, during an ill- 
ness in Baltimore, he came to see me, and, on entering my 
parlour, found the old green purse on the table as usual, full of 
five dollar pieces (in gold). Upon my appearance he held it 
up, and, after wishing me good day, thus once again, and for 
the last time, admonished me. " You pray that you may not 
be led into temptation ; do unto others as you would they 
should do unto you." Since then I have never transgressed 
against this precept, and surely I never received a more effi- 
cient moral lesson. 

One of the most agreeable evenings I spent in Washington 
was at an ice cream party given by Mr. Hannegan in honour of 
a Lady's birthday : he was ever glad to make us happy. 

This Senator was not born in the State he represents, but in 
Kentucky, in the city of Lexington ; consequendy in the very 
atmosphere of Henry Clay, and I cannot well tell how he es- 
caped being a Whig. He is a Presbyterian, but has committed 
his only son to the care of Dr. Hailandiere, Catholic Bishop of 
Vincennes, in Indiana, to be educated at the College in that 
city. A devoted lover of the country and of its independence, 
he so pined at last in Washington, that he was compelled to go 
home for a fortnight to refresh his spirits and recruit his health. 
I met him on the Ohio on his way. "Come home with me," 
said he to the Doctor and myself, "come home with me, and I 
will show you the lovely valley of the Wabash. I can endure 
those hot and crowded halls no longer. I must have free air 
and space to roam in ; I like to hunt when I please, and to shoot 
when I please, and to fish when I please, and to read when I 



120 THE HON. EDWARD HANNEGAN. 

please. Come home with me, and see how I live in Indiana." 
But we were bound to the Mammoth Cave, in Kentucky, and 
could not. 

In the Democratic Review, No. 96, there is an excellent like- 
ness of Mr. Hannegan: while I write it is open before me. So 
true an index is his countenance of his mind, that when the 
Senate were deliberating with closed doors upon the Oregon 
Treaty, I only wished to look at him for one moment in order 
to know how things were progressing. I think he is scarcely 
forty; brown hair, wears neither beard nor whiskers, of mid- 
dling height, but broad shouldered, and very pleasant of ad- 
dress. 



EXTRACT FROM THE SPEECH OF MR. HANNEGAN, 
ON THE OREGON QUESTION. 

Delivered in the Senate of the United States, 
February 16, 1846. 

******* 

Oh, what a picture would the secret history of English di- 
plomacy present! I speak not in censure of the master spirits 
who for centuries have controlled her councils, leading her step 
by step to the mastery of the world. Their far-sightedness 
and their devotion to her interests are worthy of commendation 
and emulation. Perhaps no stronger instance of forecast was 
ever given than that which sixty years ago saw the vast import- 
ance that the desert coast of the Pacific was ultimately to attain 
in the scale of empire. 

The Nootka Sound convention gave to England the right "to 
land on the coasts in places not already occupied, for the pur- 
pose of carrying on their commerce with the natives of the 
country, or of making settlements there," with the sole intention 
of affording her facilities in such intercourse with the natives, 
and to enable her to repair her vessels. These secondary and 
permissive rights, in no manner involving the sovereignty, were 
all she acquired by that convention; all that her statesmen then 
claimed ; all that Spain conceded. And yet she has at this hour 
the effrontery to assert, in the face of history, that she thus ac- 
quired the right of paramount occupation and settlement. I say 
all that her statesmen claimed ; for Mr. Fox, in the British 
Parliament, whilst the convention was under discussion, de- 
nounced it as " a treaty of concessions, and not of acquisitions.''^ 



THE HON. EDWARD HANNEGAN. 121 

In another passage he asserts, that " we had given up all right 
to settle, except for temporary purposes, to the south of the 
Spanish settlements or in the intervals between them, where 
they liappened to be distant." — Par. His., vol. 28, ]). 995. 

And in confirmation of this language, Mr. Pitt, under whose 
auspices as Prime Minister the convention had been negotiated, 
replied by saying that England "had gained no new rights, but 
that she had gained new advantages." These new advantages, 
in the language of Mr. Pitt, consisted simply in the acknov/- 
ledgment by Spain "of the right of England to carry on fish- 
eries in the Pacific ocean, and to trade on the coast of any part 
of it north-west of America." 

Immediately after the execution of this convention, England 
fitted out one or two ships, and intrusted the command to 
Captain Vancouver, to proceed on a voyage of discovery; yes, 
of discovery to the Pacific ocean, and, as is alleged, to procure 
restitution of English property in compliance with the conven- 
tion. What were the occurrences of that voyage? ^If Spain 
had intended, by this convention, to deliver Nootka Sound to 
England, or if England had understood it as thus acquired, 
would it not have been promptly enforced by the one if refused 
by the other ? Most assuredly. But what is the fact ? When 
Vancouver reached Nootka Sound, did he make any demand 
for restoration ? None that I ever heard of. And if so, it was 
not complied with ; for so far from delivering to him possession 
of Nootka Sound, which is between the parallels of 49° and 
50°, the Spanish commandant refused to allow him to proceed 
around the island of Quadra or Vancouver, by the straits of 
Fuca, the gulf of Georgia, and Queen Charlotte's Sound, which 
all combine to separate it from the main land, until he could 
get vessels ready to accompany him, and he did accompany 
him. 

And here let me pause to mark a point in English diplo- 
matic artifice. Upon the arrival of Vancouver at Nootka 
Sound, the island which forms the Sound was called Quadra, 
and had been for years; the Spaniards were in possession; a 
Spanish commandant, he whose name the island bore, held 
possession in the name of Spain, and a flourishing Spanish 
settlement, with the consent and approbation of the natives, 
was established. Without a word on the subject of restoration, 
or of sovereignty, or right to the island, but silently and with- 
out the knowledge of any one, but doubtless w^ith the secret 
sanction of the English ministry, Vancouver in his journal and 
chart christens the island by his own name, in order that 



122 THE HON. EDWARD HANNEGAN. 

England, half a century afterwards, might have another point 
on which to rest her random and vagrant claim. The flagrancy 
of this act is more striking when it is recollected that Spain 
held possession, not only at Nootka Sound, but of the entire 
island of Vancouver, undisturbed, undisputed possession, from 
that period until the year 1795, when she voluntarily aban- 
doned it, because the disturbed condition of Europe was such 
as to prevent her or any other European power from extending 
or protecting such remote settlements during the succeeding 
twenty years. 

But did England after this abandonment by Spain come for- 
ward with her claim? Did she attempt a settlement? Cer- 
tainly not. No senator can show, for England herself cannot, 
that between the parallels of 42° and 54° 40' she ever made 
a settlement or asserted a " claim'' to a single inch of ground 
until it had been previously owned and occupied by others. 

Notwithstanding her uniform course all over the world of 
claiming and holding by discovery as her own right, she re- 
quires something more in others, whenever it suits her pur- 
poses, than mere discovery. 

Shall the mailed hand of England dictate to us another 
Nootka Sound convention? Shall it do more? — shall it force 
us to surrender that for which Spain prepared to struggle ? 
Shall the twenty millions who now people free America, with 
energies unfathomed, and as I believe unfathomable, with re- 
sources unsurpassed in the history of nations ; shall we, thus 
endowed, abandon a position in defence of which Spain was 
w^illing to hazard a contest, the result of which to her was not 
even doubtful, and upon it was staked her national existence? 
Even the effeminate mind of Charles IV. held his nation's 
honour as dear as his nation's existence. I know it is some- 
times sneeringly asked, what has honour to do with Oregon ? 
and why should there be so much talk about honour ? Mr. 
Fox, whose authority I dearly love to quote, for I reverence 
his memory, said in the debate in Parliament I have before 
quoted from : — 

" Honour to nations was perhaps the only justifiable or ra- 
tional ground of contest. Wars for the sake of conquest, of 
acquiring dominion or extending trade, were equally unjust and 
impolitic. He who vindicated the honour of a country was the 
advocate of its dearest interests, because to vindicate its honour 
was to secure its peace." 

And this authority will stand good when the memory of 
those who ask " why talk of honour ?" shall be forgotten. 



THE HON. EDWARD HANNEGAN. 123 

The honourable senator* has arrayed before us the mighty 
naval power of England, the number of her ships of war, her 
sailors and her guns, and the comparatively diminutive force 
we present. 1 think a close scrutiny would lessen the exhibit 
of her available force, and increase that of ours ; but that is not 
to my purpose at present. If that senator by this intended to 
awe us into a compromise, by the surrender of our territory, 
it was certainly both ill timed and ill planned : that would bet- 
ter have become a secret session. The idea of surrendering 
without an effort, because of the numerical superiority of the 
enemy, whether in guns or men, is new to me in military his- 
tory. I admit that it is right and proper to examine the force 
of Great Britain, but at the same time we ought not to forget 
or undervalue our own. The American people cannot be 
alarmed ; they are not to be awed by any such representations. 

Were all the fleets of England gathered in one body, their ap- 
proach would create no terror in the American heart. Our people 
remember, that, more than sixty years ago, one small American 
frigate, commanded by John Paul Jones, made its way through 
her navies, to ravage England's coasts and pillage her palaces, 
and returned in triumph. They have not forgotten the names 
of Decatur, Hull, Perry, Porter, the Joneses, M'Donough, 
Stewart, and a glorious host beside, who united to indomitable 
courage and lofty heroism, a burning love for their country and 
its free and happy institutions. Though England's guns were 
a hundred to one, the heart of the nation would not tremble, 
while her eye was on the roll of these bright and undying 
names, and her memory full of their deeds of noble daring. 

But the senator from South Carolinat is wedded to a different 
plan — a plan which avoids all action. He is for leaving the 
whole matter to the silent, quiet, noiseless operation of time, 
and the gradual encroachments of our hardy and enterprising 
settlers, who have gone, and are going, into the territory. Does 
not every one know, tliat all the while they are making these 
very noiseless and quiet encroachments, they are exposed to 
the British bayonet ? And whilst so exposed, you refuse them 
the protection of American laws, and American tribunals. Such 
a state of things would inevitably produce repetitions of the 
Caroline affair. 

But do gentlemen flatter themselves that we can thus take 
Oregon, and England know nothing of it. Will they not un- 
derstand this policy as well as we ? And when they perceive 

* Ml'. Clayton, of Delaware. t Mr. Calhoun. 



124 THE HON. EDWARD HANNEGAN. 

the plan likely to take effect, will they not be on their guard ? 
If we press our population upon them, will they not, in turn, 
press their pauper population upon us ? Which of the two 
plans will most consult the honour of this country? Which 
story shall we rather leave on record as a heritage to our pos- 
terity — the plan of the honourable senator, to get the territory 
by silent encroachment, or that advocated by gentlemen on the 
other side, who are for demanding the territory, because it is 
ours ? Shall we take it openly and boldly by a straightforward 
manly course ? — or shall we get it covertly, slily, stealthily? 
No, I will not say stealthily ; I will not employ any term that 
may imply the slightest disrespect to the honourable senator ; 
I will not say stealthily, but I will say circuitously ; yes, that 
is the word — circuitously. I would not say anything that 
could be a cause of offence to the honourable gentleman from 
South Carolina. I have no such feeling toward him. I hold 
that honourable senator in too much respect ; I have too much 
esteem and regard for him. 1 would not for the world pluck 
one leaf from the laurel that enwreathes his venerated brow. 
He has ably served his country in many and various important 
stations. I hope and trust he will do nothing that shall mar 
the page in this nation's history which he is destined to fill. I 
respect his acquisitions ; above all, I venerate his virtues — the 
spotless purity of his private life. It is on these that the future 
American Plutarch will most delight to dwell. But the sena- 
tor's course is circuitous; ours is direct. Which, I ask, will 
do most honour to a country like this ? Which will read the 
best ? Sir, how will it read alongside of the history of '76 ? 
Then the whole population of a range of Atlantic colonies, 
sooner than submit to the exactions of a slight tax, took up arms 
and went into the appeal of battle. They stood for their rights 
in many a bloody field ; and they conquered those rights from 
the mightiest and the haughtiest power the world ever saw. 
Such was the first chapter of our history, read and studied by 
the nations of the Old World. But what is to be the second 
chapter? At first we had but three millions of people ; now 
we have twenty millions. Our wealth, our power, our energy, 
have increased in more than a like proportion. And now the 
same old enemy claims a great empire on our western coast ; 
and the descendants of that same people resolve, sooner than 
resist, to surrender their rights, and let her take it. I trust no 
such chapter is to be written in our history. 

Mr. President, I have but uttered the rights of my country, 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 125 

and by their side I plant myself, ready to abide the issue — 
come peace, come war. 

For the singleness and sincerity of my motives I appeal to 
Heaven. By them I am willing to be judged now and here- 
after, so help me God, when, prostrate at thy foot, I falter forth 
my last brief prayer for mercy on an erring life. 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, 

Ex-PllESIBENT OF THE UnITED StATES, MeMBER OF THE HoUSE OF 

Rephesektatives for Norfolk, Massachusetts. 

The Whig ex-President, true to his own indefatigable nature, 
still assists in the Councils of his Country; he not unfrequently 
speaks and delivers his original and independent opinions with 
his wonted energy and courage, and with singular vigour for 
his years. He is most punctual in his attendance at the House, 
having missed but one day, I believe, during the Session of 
1845-6. Mr. Adams is the representative of the opinions, and 
the recorder of the events of earlier days ; his memory is very 
tenacious, and his knowledge universal. Is a question mooted, 
a subject started for investigation, a former transaction, or the 
actors therein alluded to, Mr. Adams can describe the attendant 
circumstances, can give the name of each man concerned, and 
the time in which he lived, and moved, and had his being, in 
Congress or before his country. His seat is placed about mid- 
way between the Speaker's chair and the outer circle of the 
House of Representatives, and on the left hand of the Speaker. 
Unaffected apparently by heat, and cold, and fatigue, he gives 
his undivided and unwearied attention to all that goes forward ; 
and I have understood that he records, at home, the proceed- 
ings of every day. Sometimes the venerable statesman is 
attacked by a member of opposition, and then he rises in self- 
defence with all the indignant warmth of youth, and the con- 
sciousness of an integrity which none can gainsay. I was 
present in the House, and seated in the gallery immediately 
above Mr. Adams, when Mr. Rhett, of South Carolina, made 
some remarks on the policy pursued by Mr. Adams in 1812- 
13. During Mr. Rhett's speech, I observed the emotion which 
gradually became evident in the countenance of the patriotic 



126 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

New Englander; his cheek flushed, his veins swelled, and the 
fervent blood of twenty summers rushed to his temples ; at 
length he rose, and spoke just at the moment when he ought; 
when he knew not whether he felt more surprise or indignation 
at the insinuation of British predilection flung suddenly against 
himself and his party ; he had no time for preparation, but 
entered at once into an extempore history of the political afl!airs 
of that period, and concluded by completely vindicating himself 
individually, and the Whigs generally, from such vexatious 
censure. The sympathy of all was with him ; and, doubtless, 
reflection made, the better nature of the gentleman from South 
Carolina led him to regret that he had assailed a statesman who 
so ably defended himself; whose years and services entitled him 
to the highest respect; and the purity of whose administration, 
during his Presidency, displays his disinterestedness and patriot- 
ism in the most honourable light. Mr. Adams is said never to 
have removed any man from office on account of his political 
opinions. If requested to change an officer, he asked the honest 
question — " Does he know and practise his duty in his post?" 
If the reply was in the affirmative, the President answered, 
" Then he cannot be touched. If he fulfils his duty in his 
office with industry, talent, and fidelity, I cannot consent to his 
removal." 

Governor Seward, whose love and respect for the personal 
character of Mr. Adams are only equalled by his admiration of 
the public life of this eminent man, had frequently excited my 
anxious desire to have an opportunity of seeing Mr. Adams, 
when, the cares of the day being ended, he received the visits 
of his friends, and unbent his mind in social intercourse. I 
was as much gratified when admitted to these "Attic Nights" 
as the intellectual Governor had predicted ; and listened with 
delight to those instructive and fascinating lectures, in which 
learning and taste were so eloquently combined ; poetry, paint- 
ing, music, history, criticism, all in turn were the themes of his 
discourse ; each Muse attended at his call. The question was 
one evening discussed, whether is it easier to render sculpture 
and painting into poetry, or poetry into sculpture and painting? 
— assuming each to be perfect in its kind: that is, the poetry 
rendered into sculpture or painting must become material, and 
the sculpture or painting rendered into poetry must become 
spiritual. The subject expanded, and I was amazed at the 
range of knowledge displayed by Mr. Adams, and the perfect 
system with which it was hived and stored for seasonable use. 
Languages, metaphysics, philosophy, the nature of essence and 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 127 

of matter, mechanical art, witli many more incidental subjects, 
were all handled by him with the same ease and familiarity that 
EucHd would demonstrate two halves to be equal to the whole. 
During: the discussion, I remember that Mr. Adams, with singu- 
lar frankness, declared that he had never admired the Venus de 
Medici. He gave the preference to Painting over Sculpture, 
as being a higher art, and requiring a greater variety of know- 
ledge and talent in its exercise. 

Mr. Adams was inaugurated President of the United States 
1825 — Mr. Calhoun being elected Vice-President. 

During his administration, Treaties were made with the Kan- 
sas, and Great and Little Osages, and after some difficulty, with 
the Creeks ; by which these Indian tribes withdrew into the 
Territory west of the Mississippi. Internal improvements pro- 
ceeded with great vigour; manufactures flourished; nearly 
eight millions of dollars, the surplus of the revenue, were ap- 
plied to the reduction of the public debt, and three millions and 
a half to the payment of interest. Various arrangements for 
the better administration of the departments of the Govern- 
ment were entered into ; new Treaties of Amity, Commerce, 
and Navigation, were made with Foreign Nations ; and during 
the whole term the United States enjoyed uninterrupted peace 
with all the world. 

Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Adams are next door neighbours to 
each other in Washington, and are excellent friends. At a ball 
given by Mr. Adams, Mr. Buchanan conducted me to pay re- 
spects to the Venerable Host. The Secretary, with all the 
gentle, kindly courtesy which marks his manner, offered his 
cordial wishes, and added, that he had given directions to be 
summoned to the House of Representatives, the moment Mr- 
Adams should begin his promised speech on Oregon. He was 
accordingly present. 

Of this ball I have some delightful memories of my own to 
record ; for it was there, and not five minutes after my entrance, 
that the idea of the present work originated. 

Mrs. Governeur (this lady is the grand daughter of President 
Monroe) reproached me playfully for having omitted to call 
upon her. I replied, " that I spent all day, and every day, at 
the Capitol, hearing and seeing the distinguished men assembled 
there." 

" And then," said she laughing, " you will go home to Eng- 
land and write a book, and abuse them, and all the rest of the 
Americans." 

" Never," said Buchanan, on whose arm I leaned, "never ; I 



128 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 



answer for her. If she puts pen to paper it will be to do us 
justice." 

It was then my turn to speak, and to accept this generous 
challenge. 

*' And to show," I quickly added, " that an Englishwoman 
has the sense to appreciate your virtues, to admire your great- 
ness, and to return with gratitude your affection, — permit me 
to offer to you, Mr. Buchanan, the dedication of such a book?" 

" Beautifully said," returned the Secretary, " and I accept it 
with the greatest pleasure as a proof of your regard ; but what 
will become of your dear friends, Calhoun and IngersoU ?" 

"Mr. Buchanan," I replied, " the Secretary of Slate is the 
representative of the Americans in Foreign Nations, and, there- 
fore, my Guardian and my Friend will both approve my 
choice." 

This was the first time that the actual conviction ever sug- 
gested itself to my mind that I should lorite a hook, and during 
the rest of the evening I was somewhat startled ; I have 
never yet been before the Public ; I have no notes, and trust 
to my memory alone. If this Work have any merit, it belongs 
to the origin and the subject; its faults are, doubtless, many 
and great; but its preparation has been to me a labour of love, 
and I offer it to Mr. Buchanan, in the name of the American 
people, as a tribute of affection and of gratitude for all the happi- 
ness, friendship, and hospitality which they bestowed on me. 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

Mahch 4, 1825. 

In compliance with a usage coeval with the existence of our 
federal constitution, and sanctioned by the example of my pre- 
decessors in the career upon which I am about to enter, I ap- 
pear, my fellow citizens, in your presence, and in that of Hea- 
ven, to bind myself, by the solemnities of a religious obliga- 
gation, to the faithful performance of the duties allotted to me 
in the station to which I have been called. 

In unfolding to my countrymen the principles by which I 
shall be governed in the fulfilment of those duties, my first re- 
sort will be to that constitution which I shall swear, to the best 
of my ability, to preserve, protect, and defend. That revered 
instrument enumerates the powers and prescribes the duties of 
the executive magistrate ; and, in its first words, declares the 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 129 

purposes to which these, and the whole action of the govern- 
ment instituted by it, should be invariably and sacredly devot- 
ed — to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, ensure 
domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promoti; 
the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to the 
people of this Union in their successive generations. Since 
the adoption of the social compact one of these generations has 
passed away. It is the work of our forefathers. Administered 
by some of the most eminent men who contributed to its form- 
ation througli a most eventful period in the annals of the 
world, and through all the vicissitudes of peace and war inci- 
dental to the condition of associated man, it has not disap- 
pointed the hopes and aspirations of those illustrious benefac- 
tors of their age and nation. It has promoted the lasting 
welfare of that country so dear to us all ; it has, to an extent 
far beyond the ordinary lot of humanity, secured the freedom 
and happiness of this people. We now receive it as a precious 
inheritance from those to whom we are indebted for its estab- 
lishment, doubly bound by the examples which they have left 
us, and by the blessings which we have enjoyed as the fruits 
of their labours, to transmit the same, unimpaired, to the suc- 
ceeding generation. 

In the compass of thirty-six years, since this great national 
covenant was instituted, a body of laws, enacted under its au- 
thority and in conformity with its provisions, has unfolded its 
powers, and carried into practical operation its effective ener- 
gies. Subordinate departments have distributed the executive 
functions in their various relations to foreign affairs, to the re- 
venue and expenditures, and to the military force of the Union 
by land and sea. A co-ordinary department of the judiciary 
has expounded the constitution and the laws ; settling, in har- 
monious coincidence with the legislative will, numerous weighty 
questions of construction, which the imperfection of human 
language had rendered unavoidable. The year of Jubilee, 
since the first formation of our Union, has just elapsed; that 
of the Declaration of our Independence is at hand. The con- 
summation of both was effected by this constitution. Since 
that period a population of four millions has multiplied to 
twelve. A territory bounded by the Mississippi has been ex- 
tended from sea to sea. New states have been admitted to the 
Union, in numbers nearly equal to those of the first confedera- 
tion. Treaties of peace, amity, and commerce have been con- 
cluded with the principal dominions of the earth. The people 
9 



130 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

of other nations, inhabitants of regions, acquired not by con- 
quest, but by compact, have been united with us in the par- 
ticipation of our rights and duties, of our burdens and bless- 
ings. The forest has fallen by the axe of our woodsman ; the 
soil has been made to teem by the tillage of our farmers; our 
commerce has whitened every ocean. The dominion of man 
over physical nature has been extended by the invention of our 
artists. Liberty and law have marched hand in hand. All the 
purposes of human association have been accomplished as 
effectively as under any other government on the globe ; and at 
a cost little exceeding, in a whole generation, the expenditures 
of other nations in a single year. 

Such is the unexaggerated picture of our condition under a 
constitution founded upon the republican principle of equal 
rights. To admit that this picture has its shades, is but to say 
that it is still the condition of men upon earth. From evil, 
physical, moral and political, it is not our claim to be exempt. 
We have suffered sometimes by the visitation of Heaven 
through disease ; often by the wrongs and injustices of other 
nations, even to the extremities of war ; and, lastly, by dissen- 
sions among ourselves — dissensions, perhaps, inseparable from 
the enjoyment of freedom, but which have more than once ap- 
peared to threaten the dissolution of the Union, and with it the 
overthrow of all the enjoyments of our present lot, and all our 
earthly hopes of the future. The causes of these dissensions 
have been various, founded upon differences of speculation in 
the theory of republican government ; upon conflicting views 
of policy in our relations with foreign nations ; upon jealousies 
of partial and sectional interests, aggravated by prejudices and 
prepossessions which strangers to each other are ever apt to 
entertain. 

It is a source of gratification and of encouragement to me to 
observe, that the great result of this experiment upon the theory 
of human rights has, at the close of that generation by which 
it was formed, been crowned with success, equal to the most 
sanguine expectations of its founders. Union, justice, tran- 
quillity, the common defence, the general welfare, and the 
blessings of liberty, — all have been promoted by the govern- 
ment under which we have lived. Standing at this point of 
time, looking back to that generation which has gone by, and 
forward to that which is advancing, we may at once indulge 
in grateful exultation and in cheering hope. From the expe- 
rience of the past, we derive instructive lessons for the future. 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 131 

* 

Of the two great political parties which have divided the opin- 
ions and feelings of our country, the candid and the just will 
now admit, that both have contributed splendid talents, spotless 
integrity, ardent patriotism, and disinterested sacrifices, to the 
formation and administration of this government; and that both 
have required a liberal indulgence for a portion of human 
infirmity and error. The revolutionary wars of Europe, com- 
mencing precisely at the moment when the government of the 
United States first went into operation under this constitution, 
excited a collision of sentiments and of sympathies which 
kindled all the passions, and embittered the conflict of parties, 
till the nation was involved in war, and the Union was shaken 
to its centre. This time of trial embraced a period of five and 
twenty years, during which the policy of the Union, in its 
relations with Europe, constituted the principal basis of our 
political divisions, and the most arduous part of the action of 
our federal government. With the catastrophe in which the 
wars of the French revolution terminated, and our own subse- 
quent peace with Great Britain, this baneful weed of party 
strife was uprooted. From that time no difference of principle, 
connected either with the theory of government or with our 
intercourse with foreign nations, has existed or been called 
forth in force sufficient to sustain a continued combination oi 
parties, or give more than wholesome animation to public 
sentiment or legislative debate. Our political creed is, without 
a dissenting voice that can be heard, that the will of the people 
is the source, and the happiness of the people the end, of all 
legitimate government upon earth. That llie best security for 
the beneficence, and the best guaranty against the abuse of 
power consists in the freedom, the purity, and the frequency 
of popular elections. That the general government of the 
Union and the separate governments of the states are all 
sovereignties of legitimated powers; fellow servants of the 
same masters, uncontrolled within their respective spheres, un- 
controllable by encroachments upon each other. That the 
firmest security of peace is the preparation during peace of the 
defences of war. That a rigorous economy and accountability 
of public expenditures should guard against the aggravation, 
and alleviate, when possible, the burden of taxation. That the 
military should be kept in strict subordination to the civil 
power. That the freedom of the press and of religious opinion 
should be inviolate. That the policy of our country is peace, 
and the ark of our salvation. Union, are articles of faith upon 



132 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

which wo are all agreed. If there have been those who 
doubted whether a confederated representative democracy were 
a <Tovernment competent to the wise and orderly management 
of the common concerns of a mighty nation, those doubts have 
been dispelled. If there have been projects of partial confe- 
deracies to be erected upon the ruins of the Union, they have 
been scattered to the winds. If there have hcen dangerous 
attachments to one foreign nation, and antipathies against ano- 
ther, they have been extinguished. Ten years of peace, at 
home and abroad, have assuaged the animosities of political 
contention, and blended into harmony the most discordant 
elements of public opinion. There still remains one effort of 
magnanimity, one sacrifice of prejudice and passion, to be made 
by the individuals throughout the nation who have heretofore 
followed the standards of political party. It is that of discard- 
ing every remnant of rancour against each other; of embracing 
as countrymen and friends; and of yielding to talents and virtue 
alone that confidence which, in times of contention for principle, 
was bestowed only upon those who wore the badge of party 
communion. 

The collisions of party spirit which originate in speculative 
opinions or in different views of administrative policy are in 
their nature transitory. Those which are founded on geogra- 
phical divisions, adverse interests of soil, climate, and modes of 
domestic life, are more permanent, and therefore perhaps more 
dangerous. It is this which gives inestimable value to the 
character of our government, at once federal and national. It 
holds out to us a perpetual admonition to preserve alike, and 
with equal anxiety, the rights of each individual state in its own 
government, and the rights of the whole nation in that of the 
Union. Whatever is of domestic concernment, unconnected 
with the other members of the Union, or with foreign lands, 
belongs exclusively to the administration of the state govern- 
ments. Whatsoever directly involves the rights and interests 
of the federative fraternity, or of foreign powers, is of the resort 
of this general government. The duties of both are obvious in 
the general principle, though sometimes perplexed with diffi- 
culties in the detail. To respect the rights of the state govern- 
ments is the inviolable duty of that of the Union ; the govern- 
ment of every state will feel its own obligation to respect and 
preserve the rights of the whole. The prejudices everywhere 
too commonly entertained against distant strangers are worn 
away, and the jealousies of jarring interests are allayed by the 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 133 

composition and functions of the great national councils an- 
nually assembled from all quarters of the Union at this place. 
Here the distinguished men from every section of our country, 
while meeting to deliberate upon the great interests of those by 
whom they are deputed, learn to estimate the talents and do 
justice to the virtues of each other. The harmony of the na- 
tion is promoted, and the whole Union is knit together by the 
sentiments of mutual respect, the habits of social intercourse 
and the ties of personal friendship formed between the repre- 
sentatives of its several parts in the performance of their service 
at this metropolis. 

Passing from this general review of the purposes and injunc- 
tions of the federal constitution and their results, as indicating 
the first traces of the path of duty in tlie discharge of my pub- 
lic trust, I turn to the administration of my immediate prede- 
cessor as the second. It has passed away in a period of pro- 
found peace; how much to the satisfaction of our country, and 
to the honour of our country's name, is known to you all. 
The great features of its policy, in general concurrence with the 
will of the legislature, have been : — To cherish peace while pre- 
paring for defensive war; to yield exact justice to other nations, 
and maintain the rights of our own; to ciierish the principles 
of freedom and of equal rights, wherever they were proclaimed ; 
to discharge with all possible promptitude tlie national debt; to 
reduce within the narrowest limits of efficiency the military 
force ; to improve the organization and discipline of the army ; 
to provide and sustain a school of military science ; to extend 
equal protection to all the great interests of the nation ; to pro- 
mote the civilization of the Indian tribes ; and to proceed in 
the great system of internal improvements within the limits of 
the constitutional power of the Union. Under the pledge of 
these promises, made by that eminent citizen at the time of his 
first induction to this office, in his career of eight years, the 
internal taxes have been repealed; sixty millions of the public 
debt have been discharged; provision has been made for the 
comfort and relief of the aged and indigent among the surviving 
warriors of the revolution : the regular armed force has been 
reduced, and its constitution revised and perfected ; the ac- 
countability for the expenditures of public moneys has been 
made more effective ; the Floridas have been peaceably ac- 
quired, and our boundary has been extended to the Pacific 
ocean ; the independence of the southern nations of this hemi- 
sphere has been recognised, and recommended by example and 



134 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

by counsel to the potentates of Europe ; progress has been 
made in the defence of the country by fortifications and the 
increase of the navy, toward the effectual suppression of the 
African traffic in slaves, in alluring the aboriginal hunters of 
our land to the cultivation of the soil and of the mind, in ex- 
ploring the interior regions of the Union, and in preparing, by 
scientific researches and surveys, for the farther application of our 
national resources to the internal improvement of our country. 

In this brief outline of the promise and performance of my 
immediate predecessor, the line of duty for his successor is 
clearly delineated. To pursue to their consummation those 
purposes of improvement in our common condition, instituted 
or recommended by him, will embrace the whole sphere of my 
obligations. To the topic of internal improvement, emphatically 
urged by him at his inauguration, I recur with peculiar satis- 
faction. It is that from which I am convinced that the unborn 
millions of our posterity, who are in future ages to people this 
continent, will derive their most fervent gratitude to the found- 
ers of the Union ; that in which the beneficent action of its 
government will be most deeply felt and acknowledged. The 
magnificence and splendour of their public works are among 
the imperishable glories of the ancient republics. The roads 
and aqueducts of Rome have been the admiration of all after 
ages, and have survived thousands of years, after all her con- 
quests have been swallowed up in despotism, or become the 
spoil of barbarians. Some diversity of opinion has prevailed 
with regard to the powers of Congress for legislation upon ob- 
jects of this nature. The most respectful deference is due to 
doubts originating in pure patriotism, and sustained by vene- 
rated authority. But nearly tv/enty years have passed since 
the construction of the first national road was commenced. 
The authority for its construction was then unquestioned. To 
how many thousands of our countrymen has it proved a benefit? 
To what single individual has it ever proved an injury? Re- 
peated, liberal, and candid discussions in the legislature have 
conciliated the sentiments, and approximated the opinions of 
enlightened minds upon the question of constitutional power. 
I cannot but hope that, by the same process of friendly, patient, 
and persevering deliberation, all constitutional objections will 
ultimately be removed. The extent and limitation of the powers 
of the general government in relation to this transcendently im- 
portant interest will be settled and acknowledged to the com- 
mon satisfaction of all ; and every speculative scruple will be 
solved by a practical public blessing. 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 135 

Fellow citizens, you are acquainted with the peculiar cir- 
cumstances of the recent elections, which have resulted in 
affording me the opportunity of addressing you at this time. 
You have heard the exposition of the principles which will 
direct me in the fulfilment of the high and solemn trust imposed 
upon me in this station. Less possessed of your confidence in 
advance than any of my predecessors, I am deeply conscious 
of the prospect that I shall stand more and oftener in need of 
your indulgence. Intentions upright and pure, a heart devoted 
to the welfare of our country, and the unceasing application of 
the faculties allotted to me to her service, are all the pledges 
that I can give to the faithful performance of the arduous duties 
I am to undertake. To the guidance of the legislative councils ; 
to the assistance of the executive and subordinate departments ; 
to the friendly co-operation of the respective state governments; 
to the candid and liberal support of the people, so far as it may 
be deserved by honest industry and zeal, I shall look for what- 
ever success may attend my public service ; and knowing that, 
except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in 
vain, with fervent supplications for his favour, to his overruling 
providence I commit, with humble but fearless confidence, my 
own fate, and the future destinies of my country. 



136 



ALBERT GALLATIN. 

Mr. Gallatin is eighty-seven; and in the winter of 1845-6, 
when I saw him in New York, was in the full enjoyment of 
excellent bodily health and mental vigour. In the previous 
June I had been gratified by a long interview with this enlight- 
ened and sagacious Statesman ; his piercing and original re- 
marks, his shrewd criticisms of men and things, his erudition, 
his charming raillery, and, above all, his perfect kindness, made 
this visit delightful ; but I think the morning I sat with him in 
December, after my return from Canada and the West, was 
more memorable still, for I knew the country and the people 
more intimately, and was able to enter more fully into his politi- 
cal explanations, and his spirited anecdotes. From these two 
interviews and my intermediate travels to the Mississippi and 
the Western States, there arose a whimsical report that I was 
a spy in the employ of Sir Robert Peel! and that the little 
Doctor, with his delicate health, was a mere ruse de guerre. I 
was once asked by a party in the railroad, " What remunera- 
tion Sir Robert gave me?^"* The question was demanded in a 
sort of doubting earnest that was irresistibly droll. The period 
of both visits and excursion was propitious for this amusing 
delusion; the Oregon Question being then (December 15th) 
before Congress. 

The pamphlet published by Mr. Gallatin, on this subject, is 
one of the most interesting essays I have ever read, and it de- 
rives a higher claim to admiration from the circumstances under 
which it was written. To America is presented in its pages 
the last tribute probably which can ever be offered to her ac- 
ceptance by the devoted and venerable son of her adoption — by 
her Statesman ancient of days ; it breathes his parting wishes, 
conveys his latest benediction to the land which his talents have 
eminently served in public life, and his virtues have adorned in 
private. Nor is it less valuable for its research, extent of know- 
ledge, and concentration of argument, than for the calm and 
dignified tone of feeling and moderation which it displays ; 
throughout the laws of humanity prevail. It is an eflbrt of 
patriotism worthy of him whose early personal sacrifices for 



ALBERT GALLATIN. 137 

the sake of justice are known to all. " I had been a pioneer in 

collecting- facts and stating the case." "An aged man, who 

for the last thirty years has been detached from party politics, 
and who has now nothing whatever to hope or to fear from the 
world, has no merit in seeking only the truth, and acting an 
independent part." 

Mr. Gallatin is by birth a native of Switzerland, and fled 
from his country in early life on account of his attachment to 
liberal principles ; he first landed in Boston, and struggled with 
various pecui^iiary difficulties, to which he accommodated him- 
self with the independence of the Swiss, and the happy philo- 
sophy of the French. In America, talent and good conduct 
never fail of obtaining their reward ; the abilities of Mr. Gallatin 
were soon discovered; he married advantageously; by his saga- 
city he was enabled materially to improve his fortune, and while 
yet in the prime of life, scarcely forty years of age,* he had 
risen to confidential and pre-eminent posts in the Administra- 
tion of the Federal Government. By Mr. Jefferson and Mr. 
Madison he was held in the highest estimation ; his versatility 
of mental gifts rendered him peculiarly useful, and his financial 
talents were of the highest order. Mr. Jefferson said of Mr. 
Gallatin, "that he should not be measured by the standard ap- 
plied to other men," so highly did he value his ability. 

In 1813, Mr. Gallatin was appointed one of the Commis- 
sioners sent to Europe to negotiate the Peace with Great Britain. 
The Treaty was concluded at Ghent, in 1814. In appearance 
Mr. Gallatin is European ; his figure is tall and thin; his manner 
full of vivacity ; he speaks rapidly, and evidently many thoughts 
while in conversation rush into his head which he has not even 
time to utter; his eye still sparkles, and his countenance is full 
of spirit. When I saw him in winter, he wore a black velvet 
cap which was very characteristic, and black velvet slippers. 
His son and grandson were present besides myself and son ; two 
gentlemen waited upon him on business, and his Amanuensis 
sat at his side. Finding him occupied I would have retired, 
but he would on no account permit this, and he proceeded to 
converse with us all in turn on affairs of amusement or busi- 
ness, occasionally to dictate to the Amanuensis, and occasion- 

* In 1793 we find him returned as a Senator by the State of Pennsylvania, 
and pronounced disqualified on the ground that he had not been a citizen a 
sufficient time to enable him to hold a seat in the Senate. He was then thirty- 
three, and had sought refuge in the United States from persecution, fortune- 
less and friendless. 



138 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

ally to find a little fault with the writing; and, finally, when I 
was left alone with him he spoke almost incessantly for two 
hours on every variety of subject, with all the wit, and learning, 
and spirit imaginable. He paid me one of the most graceful 
compliments I have ever received. After hearing how much I 
had been gratified by my visit to the West, and how I had 
found all America "couleur de rose," he gently alluded to my 
romance, as he had done the day before in the very elegant 
note, which I cannot resist the pleasure of transcribing below. 
*'I believe," said he, "you possess and practice the very best 
romance in the world, that of making the best of every thing." '^^ 

" My dear Madam, — Was I not confined by an obstinate 
cold, I would do myself the pleasure to wait on you. 

" To-morrow (Saturday) two gentlemen will call upon me 
on business, at twelve o'clock. With that single exception, 
you will find me at home on any day, and at any hour that 
may suit your convenience ; and I need not say how much I 
will be gratified by your kind intended visit. 

" I am happy to hear that you were pleased with your late 
journey through the United States. Yet, although we enjoy 
most solid advantages, and, as I think, a greater mass of hap- 
piness diffused through all the classes than is to be found any- 
where else, I have not discovered much romance in America ; 
and I suspect, or, as a Yankee, I guess, that you brought it 
with you. 

"Please to accept the assurances of my high regard, and 
believe me to be, with great respect, 
'*My dear Madam, 

" Your obedient and faithful servant, 

"Albert Gallatin. 

"57, Bleeker-street, 12th December, 1845. 

**Mrs. W. Maury." 

The above is beautifully written in a fair Italian hand, the 
letters being generally disconnected. 

" The English are proud," observed Mr. Gallatin, " the 
French are vain ; the Americans have somewhat both of pride 
and vanity." 

* Once, in England, walking home with a friend from a party, we were 
caught in a violent hail storm; I laughed ; " this," said my companion, " is 
kissing the dew drops from the lion's mane." I do not think that Belind^i 
received from her poet prettier thoughts than these, and whenever I am dis- 
posed to repine, I recollect them, and 1 do " make the best of every thing." 



ALBERT GALLATIN. 139 

" It is the most difficult thing in the world to persuade states- 
men and governments to do nofhing. Neither America nor 
England should have said anything about Oregon. The letters 
of Mr. Buchanan have greatly the advantage. I have abstained 
from entering into the discussion until all should have been 
said on both sides. 

"I have learned the Spanish language very often, and as 
often forgotten it. Once acquire a language fundamentally, 
and you may easily resume it." 

The discoveries in Yucatan interested Mr. Gallatin ex- 
tremely ; he showed me Cathervvood's plates, and spoke in 
high terms both of that gentleman and of Mr. Stephens, whom 
I had afterwards the pleasure of seeing at Albany. Mr. Gal- 
latin's " Notes on the semi-civilized Nations of Mexico, Yuca- 
tan and Central America" are considered to possess the highest 
merit. 

The lot of Mr. Gallatin, in spite of exile, has been singularly 
fortunate; to have been an active and successful participator in 
the permanent establishment of the republican principles which 
originally caused his banishment ; and thus to have assisted in 
rearing a new and noble edifice on the very foundations which 
had, in his native country, slipped from beneath his feet, has 
been the allotted destiny of few. Sprung from the same soil 
with that extraordinary body of men denominated the " French 
school of philosophers," Mr. Gallatin possesses all their love 
of liberty and their elegant acquirements, combined with prac- 
tical good sense and spotless morality ; he is a perfect specimen 
of the union of American and European character in the same 
individual. The republican of Switzerland found beyond the 
Atlantic a sphere in which his conceptions were realized, and 
his doctrines reduced to practice. He has been happier far 
than the early promulgators of the free political creed; for his 
life has been extended long enough to satisfy him that the 
liberty he so loved was no chimera; that it already constitutes 
the happiness of millions, and that it is advancing progressively 
under the wide-spread banner of reform in every country of 
the world, both savage and civilized ; and though he leaves his 
ashes in a land which is not that of his birth, still it has long 
been that of his most cherished household gods. As a citizen 
he is highly esteemed and respected ; and though he mingles 
less frequently in society than he did in years gone by, the 
privileged few are still charmed to find how lightly time lays 
his finger on that honoured brow. Mrs. Madison gave me a 



140 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

most touching account of her last visit to New York, and of 
the hours she passed in the society of Mr. Gallatin, who was 
the friend of the virtuous and gifted President, to whom in life 
she was united, and whom for years she has lamented. Many 
and afi'ecting were their appeals to the sacred memories of the 
past. 



EXTRACTS 
FROM LETTERS ON THE OREGON QUESTION. 

I HAVE not the honour of a personal acquaintance with the 
President; I respect in him the First Magistrate of the Nation; 
and he is universally represented as of irreproachable character, 
sincere, and patriotic. Every citizen has a right to differ w4th 
him in opinion ; no one has that of supposing that he says one 
thing and means another. I feel an intimate conviction of his 
entire sincerity. 

New York, January 7, 1846. 

I had been a pioneer in collecting facts and stating the case. 
The only materials within my reach consisted of the accounts 
of voyages previously published, (including that of Maurelle, 
in Barrington's Miscellanies,) of the varied and important in- 
formation derived from Humboldt's New Spain, and of the 
voyage of the Sutil and Mexicano, the introduction to which 
contains a brief official account of the Spanish discoveries. The 
statement of the case was the best I was able to make with the 
materials on hand, and may be found defective in many respects. 
Since that time manuscript journals of several of the voyages 
have been obtained at Madrid. New facts have thus been added ; 
others have been better analyzed, and some errors rectified. 
Arguments which had been only indicated have been enforced, 
and new views have been suggested. The subject, indeed, seems 
to be exhausted, and it would be difficult to add anything to the 
able correspondence between the two Governments which has 
been lately published. 

Ministers charged with diplomatic discussions are not, how- 
ever, in those official papers intended for publication, to be con- 
sidered as philosophers calmly investigating the questions, with 
no other object but to elicit truth. They are always, to a cer- 
tain extent, advocates who use their best endeavours to urge 



ALBERT GALLATIN. 141 

and even strain the reasons that maybe alleged in favour of the 
claims set up by their Governments, and in the same manner to 
repel, if not to deny, all that may be adduced by the other party. 
Such official papers are in fact appeals to public opinion, and 
generally published when there remains no hope to conclude 
for the present an amicable arrangement. 

But, though acting in that respect as advocates, diplomatists are 
essentially ministers of peace, whose constant and primary duty 
is mutually to devise conciliatory means for the adjustment of 
conflicting pretensions, for the continuance of friendly relations, 
for preventing war, or for the restoration of peace. It has un- 
fortunately happened that, on this occasion, both Governments 
have assumed such absolute and exclusive grounds, as to have 
greatly increased, at least for the present, the obstacles to an 
amicable arrangement. 

It is morally impossible for the bulk of the people of any 
country thoroughly to investigate a subject so complex as that 
of the respective claims to the Oregon territory ; and, for obvi- 
ous reasons, it is much less understood by the great mass of the 
population in England than in the United States. Everywhere, 
when the question is between the country and a foreign nation, 
the people at large, impelled by natural and patriotic feelings, will 
rally around their Government. For the consequences that may 
ensue, those who are intrusted with the direction of the foreign 
relations are alone responsible. Whatever may be the cause, 
to whomsoever the result may be ascribed, it appears, from the 
general style of the periodical press, that, with few exceptions, 
the people, both in Great Britain and in the United States, are 
imbued with the belief that the contested territory belongs ex- 
clusively to themselves, and that any concession which might be 
made would be a boon to the other party. Such opinions, if 
sustained by either Government, and accompanied by corre- 
sponding measures, must necessarily lead to immediate colli- 
sions, and probably to war. Yet, a war so calamitous in itself, 
so fatal to the general interests of both countries, is almost 
universally deprecated, without distinction of parties, by all the 
rational men who are not carried away by the warmth of their 
feelings. 

At the time when America was discovered the law of nations 
was altogether unsettled. More than a century elapsed before 
Grotius attempted to lay its foundations on Natural Law and 
the moral precepts of Christianity ; and when sustaining it by 
precedents he was compelled to recur to Rome and Greece. It 



142 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

was in reality a new case, to ■which no ancient precedents could 
apply,* for which some new rules must be adopted. Gradu- 
ally some general principles were admitted, never universally, 
in their nature vague and often conflicting. For instance, dis- 
covery varies from the simple ascertaining of the continuity of 
land, to a minute exploration of its various harbours, rivers, &c., 
and the rights derived from it may vary accordingly, and may 
occasionally be claimed to the same district by different nations. 
There is no precise rule for regulating the time after which the 
neglect to occupy would nullify the right of prior discovery; 
nor for defining the extent of coast beyond the spot discovered 
to which the discoverer mav be entitled, or how far inland his 
claim extends. The principle most generally admitted was, 
that, in case of a river, the right extended to the whole coun- 
try drained by that river and its tributaries. Even this was 
not universally conceded. This right might be affected by 
a simultaneous or prior discovery and occupancy of some 
of the sources of such river by another party ; or it might 
conflict with a general claim of contiguity. This last claim, 
when extending beyond the sources of rivers discovered 
and occupied, is vague and undefined ; though it would seem 
that it cannot exceed in breadth that of the territory on the 
coast originally discovered and occupied. A few examples 
will show the uncertainty resulting from those various claims 
when they conflicted with each other. 

The old British charters extending from sea to sea have 
already been mentioned. They were founded beyond the 
sources of the rivers emptying into the Atlantic on no other 
principle than that of contiguity or continuity. The grant, in 
1621, of Nova Scotia, by James the First, is bounded on the 
north by the river St. Lawrence, though Cartier had more than 
eighty-five years before discovered the mouth of that river, and 
ascended it as high up as the present site of Montreal ; and the 
French, under Champlain, had several years before 1621 been 
settled at Quebec. But there is another case more important, 
and still more in point. 

The few survivors of the disastrous expedition of Narvaez, 
who, coming from Florida, did, in a most extraordinary way, 
reach Culiacan on the Pacific, were the first Europeans who 
crossed the Mississippi. Some years later Ferdinand de Soto, 

* Grotius, liowever, sustains the right of occupation by a maxim of the 
Civil Roman Code. 



ALBERT GALLATIN. 143 

coming also from Florida, did, in the year 1541, reach and 
cross the Mississippi, at some place between the mouth of the 
Ohio and that of the Arkansas. He explored a portion of the 
river and of the adjacent country; and, after his death, Mos- 
coso, who succeeded him in command, did, in the year 1543, 
build seven brigantines or barques, in which, with the residue 
of his followers, he descended the Mississippi, the mouth of 
which he reached in seventeen days. Thence putting to sea with 
his frail vessels he was fortunate enough to reach the Spanish 
port of Panuco, on the Mexican coast. The right of discovery 
clearly belonged to Spain ; but she had neglected for near one 
hundred and fifty years to make any settlement on the great 
river or any of its tributaries. The French, coming from 
Canada, reached the Mississippi in the year 1680, and as- 
cended it as high up as St. Anthony's Falls; and La Salle 
descended it in 1682 to its mouth. The French Government 
did, in virtue of that second discovery, claim the country, sub- 
sequently founded New Orleans, and formed several other 
settlements in the interior, on the Mississippi or its waters. 
Spain almost immediately occupied Pensacola and Nacogdo- 
ches, in order to check the progress of the French eastwardly 
and westwardly ; but she did not attempt to disturb them in 
their settlements on the Mississippi and its tributaries. We 
have here the proof of a prior right of discovery being super- 
seded, when too long neglected, by that of actual occupancy 
and settlement. 

The French, by virtue of having thus discovered the mouth 
of the Mississippi, of having ascended it more than fifteen 
hundred miles, of having explored the Ohio, the Wabash, and 
the Illinois, from their respective mouths to their most remote 
sources, and of having formed several settlements as above 
mentioned, laid claim to the whole country drained by the main 
river and its tributaries. They accordingly built forts at Le 
Boeuf, high up the Alleghany river, and on the site where Pitts- 
burg now stands. On the ground of discovery or settlement, 
Great Britain had not the slightest claim. General, tlien Col- 
onel Washington, was the first who, at the age of twenty-two, 
and in the year 1754, planted the British banner on the Western 
w^aters. The British claim was founded principally on the 
ground of contiguity, enforced by other considerations. The 
strongest of these was, that it could not consist with natural 
law, that the British colonies, with a population of near two 
millions, should be confined to the narrow belt of land between 



144 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

the Atlantic and the Alleghany mountains, and that the right 
derived from the discovery of the main river should be carried 
to such an extent, as to allow the French colonies, with a popu- 
lation of fifty thousand, rightfully to claim the whole valley 
of the Mississippi. The contest was decided by the sword. 
By the treaty of peace of 1763, the Mississippi, with the ex- 
ception of New Orleans and its immediate vicinity, was made 
the boundary. The French not only lost all that part of the 
valley which lay east of that river, but they were compelled to 
cede Canada to Great Britain. 

Beyond the naked assertion of an absolute right to the whole 
territory, so little in the shape of argument has been adduced, 
and so much warmth has been exhibited in the discussion of 
the subject, that it cannot be doubted that the question has now 
become, on both sides, one of feeling rather than of right. 
This, in America, grows out of the fact that, in this contest 
with a European nation, the contested territory is in America 
and not in Europe. It is identical with the premature official 
annunciation that the United States could not acquiesce in the 
establishment of any new colony in North America by any 
European nation. This sentiment was already general at the 
time when it was first publicly declared; and now that it has 
been almost universally avowed, there can be no impropriety 
in any private citizen to say, as I now do, that I share in that 
feeling to its full extent. For the Americans, Oregon is or will 
be home ; for England, it is but an outpost which may afford 
means of annoyance rather than be a source of real power. In 
America all have the same ultimate object in view; we differ 
only with respect to the means by which it may be attained. 

Two circumstances have had a tendency to nourish and ex- 
cite these feelings. The British Fur Companies, from their 
position, from their monopolizing character, from their natural 
influence upon the Indians, and from that, much greater than 
might have been expected, which they have constantly had 
upon the British Government in its negotiations with the IJnited 
States, have for sixty years been a perpetual source of annoy- 
ance and collisions. The vested interests of the Hudson's 
Bay Company are at this moment the greatest obstacle to an 
amicable arrangement. It is at the same time due to justice to 
say that, as far as is known, that company has acted in Oregon 
in conformity with the terms of the convention, and that its 
officers have uniformly treated the Americans, whether visitors 
or emigrants, not only courteously, but with great kindness. 



ALBERT GALLATIN. 145 

If the British colonies on the continent of America were an 
independent country, or were they placed in their commercial 
relations, at least with the United States, on the same footing as 
the British possessions in Europe, these relations would be 
regulated by the reciprocal interests and wants of the parties 
immediately concerned. Great Britain has an undoubted right 
to persist in her colonial policy ; but the result has been extremely 
vexatious, and to the United States injurious. All this is true. 
But feehngs do not confer a right, and the indulgence of excited 
feelings is neither virtue nor wisdom. 

The Western States have no greater apparent immediate in- 
terest in the acquisition of Oregon than the States bordering on 
the Atlantic. I'hese stand in greater need of an outlet for their 
surplus emigrating population, and to them exclusively for the 
present will accrue the benefit of ports on the Pacific for the 
protection of the numerous American ships employed in the 
fisheries and commerce of that ocean. It is true that in case 
of war the inhabitants of the Western States will not, if a naval 
superiority shall be obtained on the Upper Lakes, feel those 
immediate calamities of war to which the country along the 
sea shore is necessarily exposed ; but no section of the United 
States will be more deeply affected by the impossibility of finding, 
during the war, a market for the immense surplus of its agri- 
cultural products. It must also be remembered that a direct 
tax has heretofore been found more productive than the aggregate 
of all the other internal taxes levied by the General Government; 
that, in case of war, it must necessarily be imposed ; and that, 
as it must in conformity with the Constitution be levied in pro- 
portion to the respective population of the several States, it will 
be much more oppressive on those which have not yet accumulated 
a large amount of circulating or personal capital. The greater 
degree of excitement which prevails in the West is due to other 
and more powerful causes than a regard for self-interest. 

Borderinsr through the whole of their northern frontier on the- 
British possessions, the Western people have always been per- 
sonally exposed to those annoyances and collisions already alluded 
to ; and it may be that the hope of getting rid of these by the 
conquest of Canada has some influence upon their conduct. 
Independent of this, the indomitable energy of this nation has 
been and is nowhere displayed so forcibly as in the new States 
and settlements. It was necessarily directed towards the acqui- 
sition of land and the cultivation of the soil. In that respect it 
has performed prodigies. Three millions of cultivators of the 
soil are now found between the Lakes and the Ohio, where, little 

10 



146 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

more than fifty years before, save only three or four half Indian 
French settlements, there was not a single white inhabitant. 
Nothing now seems impossible to those men ; they have not even 
been sobered by fresh experience. Attempting to do at once, 
and without an ndequate capital, that which should have been 
delayed five and twenty years, and might have then been suc- 
cessfully accomplished, some of those States have had the 
mortification to find themselves unable to pay the interest on 
the debt they had contracted, and obliged to try to compound 
with their creditors. Nevertheless, undiminished activity and 
locomotion are still the ruling principles ; the Western people 
leap over time and distance ; ahead they must go ; it is their 
mission. May God speed them, and may they thus quietly take 
possession of the entire contested territory ! 

It may not be possible to calculate vvith any degree of certainty 
the number of citizens of the United States who, aided by these 
various measures, will, within any given period, remove to the 
territory beyond the Stony Mountains. It is certain that this 
number will annually increase, and keep pace with the rapid 
increase of the population of the Western States. It cannot be 
doubted that ultimately, and at no very distant time, they will 
have possession of all that is worth being occupied in the 
territory. 

Whether more or less prompt, the result is nevertheless indu- 
bitable. The snowball sooner or later becomes an avalanche ; 
where the cultivator of the soil has once made a permanent 
establishment game and hunters disappear ; within a few years 
the fur trade will have died its natural death, and no vestige 
shall remain, at least south of Fuca's Straits, of that temporary 
occupancy of those vested British interests which the British 
Government is now bound to protect. When the whole territory 
shall have thus fallen in the possession of an agricultural in- 
dustrious population, the question recurs, by what principle will 
'then the right of sovereignty, all along kept in abeyance, be 
determined 1 

The answer is obvious. In conformity with natural law, with 
that right of occupancy for which Great Britain has always 
contended, the occupiers of the land, the inhabitants of the 
country, from whatever quarter they may have come, will be of 
right, as well as in fact, the sole legitimate sovereigns of Oregon. 
Whenever sufiiciently numerous, they will decide whether it suits 
ihem best to be an independent nation or an integral part of our 
great Republic. There cannot be the slightest apprehension that 
they will choose to become a dependent colony ; for they will 



ALBERT GALLATIN. I47 

be the most powerful nation bordering on the American shores 
of the Pacific, and will not stand in need of protecjtion against 
either their Russian or Mexican neighbours. Viewed as an 
abstract proposition, Mr. Jefferson's opinion appears correct, that 
it will be best for both the Atlantic and the Pacific American 
nations, whilst entertaining the most friendly relations, to remain 
independent, rather than to be united under the same Govern- 
ment. But this conclusion is premature ; and the decision must 
be left to posterity. 

It is certainly true that England is very powerful, and has 
often abused her power, in no case in a more outrageous manner 
than by the impressment of seamen, whether American, English, 
or other foreigners, sailing under and protected by the American 
flag. I am not aware that there has ever been any powerful 
nation, even in modern times, and professing Christianity, which 
has not occasionally abused its power. The United States, who 
always appealed to justice during their early youth, seem as their 
strength and power increase to give symptoms of a similar 
disposition. Instead of useless and dangerous recriminations, 
might not the two nations, by their united efforts, promote a 
great object, and worthy of their elevated situation? 

With the single exception of the territory of Oregon, which 
extends from 42° to 54° 40' north latitude, all the American 
shores of the Pacific Ocean, from Cape Horn to Behring's Straits, 
are occupied, on the north by the factories of the Russian Fur 
Company, southwardly by semi-civilized States, a mixture of 
Europeans of Spanish descent, and of native Indians, who, not- 
withstanding the efforts of enlightened, intelligent, and liberal 
men, have heretofore failed in the attempt to establish govern- 
ments founded on law, that might insure liberty, preserve order, 
and protect persons and property. It is in Oregon alone that 
we may hope to see a portion of the western shores of America 
occupied and inhabited by an active and enlightened nation, 
which may exercise a moral influence over her less favoured 
neighbours, and extend to them the benefits of a more advanced 
civilization. It is on that account that the wish has been ex- 
pressed that the Oregon territory may not be divided. The 
United States and England are the only Powers who lay any 
claim to that country, the only nations which may and must 
inhabit it. It is not, fortunately, in the power of either Govern- 
ment to prevent this taking place ; but it depends upon them 
whether they shall unite in promoting the object, or whether 
they shall bring on both countries the calamities of a useless war, 
which may retard, but not prevent, the ultimate result. It matters 



148 ALBERT GALLATIN. 

but little whether the inhabitants shall come from England or 
from the United States. It would seem that more importance 
might be attached to the fact that, within a period of fifteen years, 
near one million of souls are now added to the population of the 
United States by migrations from the dominions of Great Britain ; 
yet, since permitted by both Powers, they may be presumed to 
be beneficial to both. The emigrants to Oregon, whether Ame- 
ricans or English, will be united together by the community of 
language and literature, of the principles of law, and of all the 
fundamental elements of a similar civilization. 

The establishment of a kindred and friendly Power on the 
northwest coast of America is all that England can expect, all 
perhaps that the United States ought to desire. It seems almost 
incredible that, whilst that object may be attained by simply not 
impeding the effect of natural causes, two kindred nations having 
such powerful motives to remain at peace, and standing at the 
head of European and American civilization, should, in this en- 
lightened age, give to the world the scandalous spectacle, perhaps 
not unwelcome to some of the beholders, of an unnatural and 
unnecessary war ; that they should apply all their faculties and 
exhaust their resources in inflicting, each on the other, every 
injury in their power, and for what purpose? The certain con- 
sequence, independent of all the direct calamities and miseries of 
war, will be a mutual increase of debt and taxation, and the ulti- 
mate fate of Oregon will be the same as if the war had not taken 
place. 

If it be any consolation, it is certain that, although we may 
not invade England, the evils arising from the war will be as 
sensibly and more permanently felt by Great Britain than by the 
United States. Her efforts must be commensurate with those of 
the United States, should be much greater by sea in order to be 
efficient, and will be in every respect more expensive on account 
of her distance from the seat of war. Such is the rapidly pro- 
gressive state of America, that the industry of the people will, in 
a few years of peace, have repaired the evils caused by the errors 
of Government. England will remain burthened with additional 
debt and taxation. 

An aged man, who has for the last thirty years been detached 
from party politics, and who has now nothing whatever to hope 
or to fear from the world, has no merit in seeking only the truth 
and acting an independent part. But I know too well, and have 
felt too much the influence of party feeling, not to be fully aware 
that those men will be entitled to the highest praise, who, being 
really desirous of preserving peace, shall on this momentous 



ALBERT GALLATIN. 149 

occasion dare to act for themselves, notwithstanding the power- 
ful sympathies of party. Yet no sacrifice of principles is re- 
quired : men may remain firmly attached to those on which 
their party was founded and which they conscientiously adopt- 
ed. There is no connexion between the principles or doctrines 
on which each party respectively was founded, and the question 
of war or peace with a foreign nation which is now agitated. 
The practice which has lately prevailed to convert every subject, 
from the most frivolous to the most important, into a pure party 
question, destroys altogether personal independence, and strikes 
at the very roots of our institutions. These usages of party, as 
they are called, make every man a slave, and transfer the legiti- 
mate authority of the majority of the nation to the majority of a 
party, and, consequently, to a minority of the sovereign people. 
If it were permitted to appeal to former times, I would say that, 
during the six years that I had the honour of a seat in Congress, 
there were but two of those party meetings, called for the pur- 
pose of deliberating upon the measures proper to be adopted. 
The first was, (after the House had asserted its abstract right to 
decide on the propriety of making appropriations necessary to 
carry a treaty into effect,) whether such appropriations should be 
made with respect to the treaty with England of 1794. The 
other was in the year 1798, respecting the course proper to be 
pursued after the hostile and scandalous conduct of the French 
Directory. On both occasions we were divided ; and on both 
the members of the minority of each meeting were left at full 
liberty to vote as they pleased, without being on that account 
proscribed or considered as having abandoned the principles of 
the party. This, too, took place at a time when, unfortunately, 
each party most erroneously suspected the other of an improper 
attach ment to one or the other of the great belligerent foreign 
nations. I must say that I never knew a man belonging to the 
same party as myself, and I have no reason to believe that there 
was any in the opposite party, who would have sacrificed the in- 
terests of the country to those of any foreign power. I am con- 
fident that no such person is to be found now in our councils or 
amongst our citizens ; nor am I apt to suspect personal views, or 
apprehensive of the effect these might produce. My only fear is 
that which I have expressed, the dif^culty for honourable men to 
disenthral themselves from those party sympathies and habits, 
laudable and useful in their origin, but which carried to excess 
become a tyranny, and may leave the most important measures 
to be decided in the National Councils by an enthusiastic and 
inflamed minority. 



REMARKS ON OREGON AND CANADA. 



BY THE AUTHORESS. 



After presenting to my English readers the foregoing com- 
prehensive Extracts from Haywood, Hannegan, and Benton, 
and, lastly, those from the Letters of the venerable Gallatin, I 
may be permitted to ask the question, " Of what use could the 
Oregon ever be to England 1" 

Grant that every right, and every power, that of occiq^cmcy 
alone excepted, belonged indisputably to Great Britain, (which 
they do not,) the right and jjcnver of occupancy being exclu- 
sively in the hands of the Americans, the territory is cle facto 
already theirs. From this right and power there is no appeal. 
And had the common sense of Eno;land, instead of her false 
pride, been enlisted in the cause, her people never would have 
scared themselves with the phantom of a war. Had the use- 
lessness and the danger of such a possession been truly repre- 
sented to them by those commissioned for such purposes, the 
just and clear-headed English Public would have replied to the 
claim, " Let the Americans have the whole ; England does not 
want it, and any insignificant rights we may possess we will dis- 
pose of for equivalents." Such would have been their decision, 
wise for themselves, just towards America, had they been truly 
informed upon the subject, and allowed to understand the merits 
of the case. England in going to war for Oregon would have 
had all to lose, nothing to gain ; she would have wasted time 
and life, and toil and treasure, would have increased her count- 
less millions of debt, have compelled her already famishing mul- 
titudes to die of hunger for w^ant of the corn and cotton of Ame- 
rica ; and might thus have risked a revolution in the heart of 
her empire. And the gasping Emigrants who leave her thronged 
and naked hungry shores in eager haste to seek for bread, where 
could they have sought an asylum? At home they are ready to 
devour each other ; I speak literally, not figuratively, for the 
horrors of the besieged Jerusalem, which we read of in Josephus, 
do not surpass those we daily see detailed in the English and 
Irish journals. 

And in case war had ensued — Eno-land would have carried 
her arms to the Pacific, as once she carried them to the Atlantic 
Coasts, some seventy years ago — and tvith the same success ; 
three millions of men, undisciplined, almost unarmed, vanquished 



OREGON AND CANADA. 15X 

her then ; noio^ twenty millions would oppose her, improved in 
the art of war, and provided with all its means and appliances. 
And supposing even that by some mysterious agency she had 
been successful, what would it avail her ? Surrounded by a 
rival and indigenous population, would she enjoy it in peace ? 
Near residents, and especially those who spring from the same 
family, are not the most harmonious neighbours ; and Border 
warfare has been ever proverbial. In twenty years the people 
of Oregon may, possibly, (for who can read their destiny) pro- 
claim themselves Free and Sovereign States. To what purpose, 
then, this turmoil for a distant, uncertain, useless, and refractory 
possession 1 There is no question that for the first two, three, 
or more years of war, England would have had the advantage, 
she would have distressed America most cruelly ; but in so 
doing she would have turned the poisoned chalice to her own 
lips ; for while success itself would be her destruction, would 
assist in leading her to irretrievable bankruptcy, or its alterna- 
tive, rcjjudiation^ America would arise from the contest like a 
young giant ; in twenty years after the cessation of hostilities, 
she would have forgotten them and their effects; her cities would 
have arisen from their ashes, more fair to look upon than they 
were before, and her people would again be rejoicing in lavish 
abundance. 
. England, unhappily for her, has more than enough to do in 
India and in Africa ; she has, besides, her difficulties at home ; 
and these considerations, were they the only ones, should have 
dictated the policy of her letting Oregon alone now and for ever. 
Should she unwisely sound the war-whoop in North America, 
Canada will instantly respond to the challenge. The tenure of 
Great Britain in that province daily becomes more and more 
frail. By a singular justice they who first redeemed these Ter- 
ritories tVom a state of nature still possess them. England 
holds the Canadas hy the influence of the Roman Catholic 
Hierarchy alone. The Sidjnciafis of Montreal are her Vice- 
gerents ; the Governor has only an honourable and troublesome 
sinecure. The enormous wealth of this magnificent Priesthood, 
who have possessed the Island of Montreal for upwards of two 
centuries, their wisdom, benevolence, and power keep the pro- 
vinces under sway ; and the home Government acts well and 
wisely to leave them in possession of all their immunities, and 
all their privileges. All the charitable institutions and the edu- 
cational establishments are conducted by them on the best ar- 
rangements ; and I have seen two thousand children at their 
studies in the Schools of the Christian Brothers. In the Priest- 



152 OREGON AND CANADA. 

hood also, as is the case in all Catholic countries, is vested the 
keeping and guiding of the consciences of the people. The 
wisdom and statesman-like prudence of Lord Metcalfe, saw per- 
fectly this position of Canada. When I had the honour of 
dining with that exalted personage, M. Quiblier, the Vicar-Gene- 
ral of the Order, and the Superior of the Seminary, with his 
Secretary, were present, and none of the guests at that hospitable 
table were more honoured than the accomplished Priest.* 

The French Canadians abhor the British whether they are of 
English or of Canadian descent and birth ; they never call them 
Canadians, and in Montreal the two nations form a distinct local 
society ; of which the French or Canadian is esteemed the best, 
independently of the officers of the Vice-Government. The 
Military, as far as I could understand, were eminently un- 
popular. 

The slightest encouragement on the part of this all-powerful 
Priesthood would induce the Canadians to declare themselves in- 
dependent of the Mother, or more truly of the Step-Mother 
country (for the Canadians do not owe their birth to England, 
but to France ; they are merely English by cession). I do not 
imagine that they would at first annex themselves to the United 
States, because they were originally children of France, called 
by her name,"f and still revere the names of Francis the First, 
and of Louis the Great. The national admiration for the person 
and state of the Grand Monarquc, obsolete in all the world, save 
here, combined with a certain prejudice against the Americans, 
would in all probability keep them for some time a separate 
People, under another and a less republican form of government. 

The Canadas are suifcring from the ill effects of a deputed 
Government; a system inherently vicious ; they cost England 
immense sums annually — more than their commerce is worth ; 
and since the universal adoption of Free Trade measures, it is 
difficult to assign a reason for keeping them. Canada herself 
would be infinitely more prosperous as an independent country 

* Since his retnrn to Canada, M. Papineau has been a jjuest at Monk- 
lands, and has also accepted a Government office. I had the pleasure of 
seeing tliis gentleman the day after his arrival at Montreal, in the society 
of M. Louis La Fontaine, witii whose charming wife I was inlimately ac- 
quainted. M. Papineau is a man of mild manners and pleasing conversa- 
tion. M. La Fontaine bears an extraordinary resemblance to the busts and 
portraits of Napoleon Buonaparte. He has the same spiritual paleness of 
complexion. Madame La Fontaine had the kindness to accompany me in 
my visits to the Catholic Communities in Montreal. I was placed under 
her care by the amiable Bishop Bourget, of that Diocese. 

t La Nouvelle France. 



OREGON AND CANADA. I53 

than as a colony of England. The Canadians are not blind to 
this ; they are patiently wailing till English capital shall have 
completed their public works, and as soon as opportunity is 
granted they will rally round the Golden Lilies. Many more 
causes than I could here enumerate^ and prohabh/ many onore 
than I. am atvare of, are graducdly leading to this result ; it 
oyily hides its time; but, in the meanwhile, any war in North 
America, (either in Mexico or the West Indies,) in which the 
English were a party concerned, would present the opportunity. 
I have understood that a rumour is afloat that the Lower Cana- 
dians wish to remove the Scat of Government once more ; to 
carry it again to Quebec, and to make it a Vice-Royalty. As a 
private individual I have no means of knowing more than the 
Journals convey ; but, if it is true, I should regard it as a rash 
and (supposing that England considers it desirable to retain 
these provinc^es,) a perilous measure on our part to permit this 
change ; it is not only putting the sword into the hands of the 
Canadians, but teaching them how to use it. Quebec was the 
original seat of the French Government; it is endeared by the 
exquisite beauty of its site, and its historic recollections, and is 
reconnnended by its strong citadel ; and a Viceroy would be the 
most popular of titles for their ruler to assume with the Cana- 
dians. Nor would a division of the United Canadas into de- 
partments or states, each having its local legislative arrangements, 
be less hazardous to the permanent dominion of England. 

To return to Oreijon. There is an unseen element at work in 
the remote wilderness of the Oreiion, whose success is o;uaranteed 
by all the precedents of history ; it is the agency of the Catholic 
Church ; the Missionaries of that Faith made Canada French ; 
and they will make the Oregon American. If the limited powers 
of the United States Government admitted of their granting a 
million of dollars annually to the Roman Catholic Bishop of New 
York, that energetic and enlightened Prelate would make it theirs 
in less than three years; and he would return it to their hands, 
organized both civilly, morally, and religiously. The Pope by 
dividing the Territory into an Archbishopric and eight Bishoprics, 
of which three Prelates are already consecrated, has done more 
to establish the right and iwioer of occupancy for the Americans 
than any thing they have done, or could have done, for them- 
selves. The Irish and German Emisrants will flock thither in 
innumerable hordes; and already the Indian Tribes begin to hail 
" the beautiful feet of the messengers of glad tidings upon the 
mountains." 

In a subsequent part of this work, I shall cause to be printed 



154 OREGON AND CANADA. 

the description and announcement of the College of Notre Dame 
du Lac, in the State of Indiana, which institution I have visited; 
and which, 1 presume, will be the model upon which similar 
establishments will be formed in the still more distant West. A 
review of his wishes and intentions with respect to the College 
and its future enlargement, will also accompany the sketch of 
the life of M. Sorin, the Superior, The French Jesuits stand 
pre-eminent, as they have ever done, in the work of civilization ; 
I have perused with delight many of the relations of these Mis- 
sionary Fathers ; and, in particular, the Letters of the accom- 
plished Father de Smet, whose efforts extend to the improvement 
of his barbarous converts,* in the useful arts of agriculture, car- 
pentry, &c., as well as in religious knowledge; he travels through 
this wilderness with a quantity of ploughs, hatchets, and other 
instruments, which he distributes among them. These Letters 
have the twofold interest of convincinf; us of the truthfulness of 
the narratives of the first explorers of these wilds, whose religious 
and adventurous spirit their successors in the field inherit ; and 
of proving that all difficulties are to be overcome by zeal and 
faith, united with discretion. The modern Missionaries possess 
one mighty and marvellous ally which the early labourers in the 
vineyard never dreamed of. Steam, and the vast machinery it 
actuates; Railroads are the wings of the Catholic Church in 
America; for they are constructed by the European emigrants 
who, most frenerally, are of that sufferino; reliorion. Wherever 
there is a body of Catholic workmen assembled, there also is a 
Priest to succour and counsel them ; and soon he raises an altar 
unto God ; and however humble be the tenement, it bears the 
sacred symbol of the Cross, and is looked upon with reverence 
by the worshippers, and with benignity by Flim, whose temple is 
in their hearts. 

One remark more. The American project of carrying a Rail- 
road from the Great Lakes, or from St. Louis or elsewhere, from 
the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains, is virtually to take pos- 
session of the Oregon ; little doubt remains of its practicability, and 
it is a far more lesjitimate mode of obtainins; the countrv than 
that of planting on its hills by fierce and horrid war, the banner 

* The French still call the Indians Sauvag'cs and Sauvagesses ; orig-inally 
Salvages. The French nation, whether as Missionaries or Settlers, have 
always been more popular with the Indians than any otlier Europeans, pro- 
bably from their happy manner and cheerful endurance of inconveniences. 
The finest race of half breeds is acknowledged to spring from the intermar- 
riages of the French and Indians. 



THE HON. C. J. IJNGERSOLL. I55 

of the Republic whose acknowledged constitutional policy is peace 
within her own bosom, and peace with all the world.* 



THE HONOURABLE CHARLES JARED INGERSOLL, 

MEMBER OF CONGRESS FROM PENNSYLVANIA, AND CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE 
OF FOREIGN RELATIONS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

And how shall I describe my pleasant Guardian ? Amiable, 
sensible, brilliant, and witty; Ingersoll is charming at sixty-three. 

That gentleman on the Speaker's left, dressed in the old revo- 
lutionary costume of huff and hlue is the Chairman of Foreign 
Relations ; by reason of which Office, his own true grace and 
favour, and my free will and duty, he assumed the responsibilities of 
my Guardianship ; and in consequence became my almost constant 
companion during the greater portion of my residence in Wash- 
ington. In conversation he eminently excels, and is the delight 
of every dinner parly ; he is extensively acquainted with English 
and French literature, an excellent classical scholar, quick in 
quotation, and fond of drawing comparisons ; he is curious in 
seeking the motives of men, and has frequently given me the key 
of the characters of those around us with much acuteness and 
felicity ; and I have ever found him inclined to praise rather than 
to censure. He has no secrets, and can keep none; the only 
error of his nature being an uncontrollable impulse to utter at 
once, regardless of time and place, the thing he feels, or knows, 
or even suspects. If this excess of candour sometimes leads him 
beyond the bounds of caution, it displays also the most noble and 

* Another Arrival from Oregon. — The Independence Expositor^ of the 
3d inst. says: — Mr. W. B. Bonney, of Oxford, Ohio, arrived in our town* 
on Wednesday last, from Oregon. He left Oregon on the 13th May, and 
represents the people there as being- prosperous and generally well satisfied with 
their new homes. The elections were to take place in June, for members of 
the Legislature of Oregon ; and considerable interest was felt as to the result. 
The grand question at issue was whether the sale of ardent spirits should be 
permitted in the territory, or not. Quite a new question for a new country. 
Mr. Bonney brought in 125 letters for persons in various parts of the Union, 
principally from the Oregon and California emigrants, who started the pre- 
sent year. He says the emigrants he met were generally healthy and in 
good spirits, and their teams looking well. He met 500 wagons on his route 
in. Some were going to Oregon and some to California. The emigrants to 
the points above named separated at Independence Rock, on the l"<2th July 
last. Mr. Bonney is now on his way to Ohio, where he resides. 

* Probably St. Louis. 



156 THE HON. C. J. INGERSOLL. 

most generous sentiments that can animate the breast of man ; 
open to conviction, ready to acknowledge an indiscretion, and 
earnest to ask as he is happy to grant forgiveness, his character 
exliibits ail the warm uncalculating sensibilities of youth. Equally 
would he suffer and regret with the offending Son of Holy Writ; 
equally would he rejoice and forgive like the tender Father. 
Headlong and rash, et brave comme son epee^ threescore years 
and three have failed to cool that hot impetuous blood, which 
dances rather than flows in his veins ; but again, a silken cord 
can lead him ; can check his haste and curb his anger ; and in- 
duce him to feel and practise the magnanimity of forbearance. 
To me he accorded his constant, unreserved, and most intimate 
confidence ; and I declare, and solemnly as I hope for mercy, 
that the breast of IngersOll is guiltless of all wilful malice, and 
free from all vindictive passions ; but happier would he be had 
he more cunnino; to be more discreet. This much I trust he will 
permit from me, in all the sincerity of affection and respect. So 
gentle, so easily aflected is he, that I have sometimes invented a 
pathetic story that I might see my Guardian weep; and on a 
public occasion, one of the most interesting of my life, the emo- 
tion which he who sat at my side displayed, was among the 
most touching events of that proud and happy day.* In a serious 
indisposition which I suffered from at Baltimore, he spent two 
days with me, and most faithfully discharged the responsibilities 
he had so kindly undertaken ; providing in every way for my com- 
fort, and sustaining my spirits with cheerful, unwearied solicitude. 
The obedient creature of his feelings, he is exquisitely alive to 
friendship, and gives utterance in the presence of those he loves, 
to all his thoughts; he will listen to their objections to his views 
or intentions, candidly reply to them, and will often accept and 
act upon the advice of those younger and inferior to himself, 
when he knows that true regard has prompted it. 

From the above it may be inferred how interesting is the 
Chairman in private life. When first I knew him, he was pos- 
sessed of all the relationships of kindred that man can create for 
himself^, or that he inherits at his birth ; he fulfilled the duties of 
a son, a husband, brother, father, and grandfather. In June he 
was summoned to Philadelphia to attend the death-bed of his 
mother ; I saw him immediately on his return to Washington ; 
the harassing events of the Session of Congress had failed to de- 
press his spirits, or to affect his health ; they had no power upon 
his elastic and spirited character ; but his mother's death sub- 

* A Dinaer given to me by the Ladies at Washington. 



THE HON. C. J. INGERSOLL. 157 

diied the heart of Ingersoll ; he returned to Washington so 
changed in aspect, so full of grief, that it made one mournful to 
look upon his face. " My spirits are almost at ebb ; but it is 
not their wont thus to continue long." So writes he in a letter 
which I shortly afterwards received from him ; but he never re- 
sumed his cheerfulness while I remained in America. 

In his habits and manners, and in his tastes, he is fastidious to 
a curious degree ; admiring the beautiful in every form, the 
slightest departure from the moralities and proprieties of educated 
society disgust and irritate him. Temperate, or rather abstemi- 
ous in his diet, simple in his forms of life, he prefers the modest, 
though well-appointed table, spread with frugal fare, around which 
echo wit and sense, to all the stupid and oppressive luxuries of 
ostentatious wealth. He is an early riser, and a pattern of in- 
dustry, constantly getting up at four o'clock in the morning to 
employ himself in business or in study ; and tlien returning to 
these pursuits, after a slight breakfast, until nine or ten, when he 
repairs to the Committee Rooms, and thence to the House of 
Representatives, where he often conducted me. At half-past 
three the House adjourns, and at four, Mr. Ingersoll generally 
dined with me and the Doctor, in the Ladies' Ordinary, at Cole- 
man's Hotel. The evenings were variously spent, sometimes at 
the Drawing Room, sometimes at the numerous entertainments 
given in Washington, sometimes in friendly visits to the Obser- 
vatory, and often to the Rev. Mr. Matthews, the Vicar General 
of the Catholic Diocese of Baltimore. And here let me pay a 
tribute of esteem to that most able and excellent man ; venerable 
by his years and his virtues, learned, and pious, and wise, long 
may he yet remain to grace society, and to be a pillar of that 
most Holy Church which he professes. We generally reached 
home about nine, and separated to meet again the following day 
on the same terms of friendly intercourse. 

Charles Ingersoll is a Democrat of the first water, and is the 
leader of his party in the Lower House; he is a Member of 
long standing, and of tried fidelity to his State.* " Beshreic 
'me /" quoth he, " hut I do love the blind Giant as she is called^ 
In most of his political tenets (I do not allude to particular 
events, but to general principles), he approaches more nearly to 
those of Mr. Calhoun than of any other public man, with the ex- 
ception of Free Trade, which, I grieve to write, is the sole free 
thing which my Guardian does not patronize ; and this not from 

* Mr. Charles J. Ingersoll has been elected a representative in the next 
Congress, for his old district, in the State of Pennsylvania by the largest 
majority he ever had. 



158 THE HON. C. J. INGERSOLL. 

disapprobation of the doctrine, but from an idea that the applica- 
tion of it is not at present adapted to the commercial circum- 
stances of the United States, and particularly to those of Penn- 
sylvania. In his support of the Mexican war, the Chairman 
certainly differed most widely from the great Apostle of the 
South. 

In religious principles, Mr. Ingersoll is an adherent of the 
Presbyterian Church ; but his toleration and charity are extended 
to all ; he is a strenuous admirer of the eminent properties of Dr. 
Hughes, the Catholic Bishop of New York, who for several years 
was his near neighbour in the city of Philadelphia. 

His talents are quick ; he is fond of argument, but equally 
good humoured whether he wins or loses ; he has much imagina- 
tion, and his very nonsense hath its pleasant mood ; he is always 
amusing and instructive, for his fancies are elegant and original, 
and his acquirements solid. 

Wit may be regarded as the attribute of nations long accus- 
tomed to their existence and position, and habitually acquainted 
with their government and lavvs, their social state, and national 
character. These preliminaries being settled, a people acquire 
time and leisure for less important, though equally interesting, 
matters; and literature, attended by knowledge, fancy, humour, 
and last of all by tvit, begins to claim a portion of their time and 
thoughts. The American People, still engaged in the important 
considerations which are to decide their place and station, their 
future peace and power, have not had time, as yet, fully to deve- 
lope and ascertain their literary capacities and attributes. Neither 
must it be forgotten that the Americans do not possess the advan- 
tages of those extensive and classical libraries which have been 
for centuries accumulating in Europe. In the profound Sciences 
and the inventive Arts, the Americans in various ways already 
excel the Europeans; but we retain our pre-eminence in the 
Drama, in Poetry, Painting, and in Music, as well as in polite 
literature ; in fancy literature also, the puerile, tawdry, and cor- 
rupt taste of this reading age, we still possess an unenviable 
superiority. I may observe, incidentally, that learning and 
knowledge are far more generally disseminated in the United 
States than in England ; probably the number of professed, 
accomplished, exclusive literary men, in fact, of scholars known 
only as such, is less with them than with us, but the amount of 
knowledge and of education is greater. To return, however, to 
my original remarks ; it would therefore seem that tfjzi is rare 
among the Americans, in part because they have not yet had 
time to exercise it ; they have not had leisure, like Falstaff, to be 



THE HON. C. J. INGERSOLL. 159 

either witty themselves, or to be the cause of the wit that is in 
other men : and in part, because their society being on an equal- 
ity, does not exhibit the differences of character, distinctions of 
rank, distances in fortune, and comparisons of good and evil, dis- 
played in ours : all of which are the genuine food of wit. 

I have been led into this digression by remembering the spark- 
ling sallies of IngersoU. He is the only ivittij man that I have 
conversed with in America. His mots will doubtless lose by 
translation ; but still I shall try how they will read : — 

At a ball, after keeping him at least an hour, during which 
time nobody asked me to dance, I observed, " that for his sake 
I was sorry that I had had no offers." " Madam," rejoined he, 
" I should instantly have repudiated them." It must be re- 
marked that the witty Member is the Representative of Pennsyl- 
vania. 

" Do tell me," said I, " what you think of slavery ?" " As I 
think of musquitoes, and other visitations of Providence," said 
he, " the less said about them the better ; besides, they are 
always the most intolerable in the hottest places." 

I received a letter from Mr. Smith, the Attorney-General of 
the Canadas, dated Montreal, in the middle of January, 1845; 
the snow was then fifteen feet deep at Quebec. 

IngersoU was present when I received the letter, and I read it 
aloud to him, as the most suitable person to give a reply. 

" When," said Mr. Smith, " when are the Americans coming 
to take Canada?" " Whenever it is thawed," carelessly returned 
the Chairman of Foreign Relations, taking up his hat and gloves 
to go away, as if for the purpose. 

A somewhat singular circumstance took place on the evening 
of Mr. Buchanan's State Ball, about a week after I had arrived 
in Washington. I was accompanied by Mr. IngersoU ; we had 
been in the room about half an hour, when Mr. Pakenham, the 
British Minister, came up and addressed to me the courtesies 
usual on such occasions. He remained near me some minutes, 
speaking of the Ladies, their dress and beauty, the room, &c. ; 
during this time he never once looked at Mr. IngersoU, who, on 
his side, never looked at Mr. Pakenham ; I was somewhat per- 
plexed and embarrassed at being thus addressed by two gentle- 
men at the same moment, who did not appear to recognise each 
other. Presently I began to think of introducing them, but was 
checked by the absurdity of such a step, mentally ejaculating, 
the Minister from E72glcmd, and the Chairman of Foreign Re- 
lations in the House, must certainly knoiv each other. Still they 
continued to look askance, and my position became one of such 



160 '^HE HON. C. J. INGERSOLL. 

excessive and ludicrous awkwardness, that I proceeded formally 
to present them to each other ; they bowed, (I do not remember 
if they shook hands,) exchanged a i'ew passing words, and Mr. 
Pakenham shortly left us to the society of our other friends in 
the room. The next morninnj I mentioned this curious incident 
to several gentlemen at the breakfast table, and so extraordinary 
did the whole proceeding appear to them and to me, that we con- 
cluded the two official gentlemen '?7i7ist have known each other: 
that it was impossible to be otherwise; and, finally, we decided 
my civility to have been a work of supererogation, and all joined 
in a hearty laugh at my expense. At ten o'clock, however, my 
Guardian came to inquire after my health, and I then said to him, 
"Tell me candidly one thing, will you?" "Any thing you would 
wish to know." "Are you upon terms with Mr. Pakenham?" 
" We have not sjjokcn for two years before last night, wlten, a 
lady being the mediator, toe could do no less.''"' 

I believe these gentlemen, whose relative offices should, of ne- 
cessity, have brought them frequently together, have remained 
on speaking terms. 

IngersoU wears his hair closely cut to his head, as short 
before as it is behind ; a most unusual fashion in America; it is 
of lively brown, and I do not think there are ten gray hairs in 
the whole. 

He has a peculiar taste in hats ; sometimes he wore an old 
black shovel ; sometimes I have seen his head enveloped up to 
the eyes in a huge fur cap of villanous form and figure; some- 
times the crown is just touched by a straw broad brim of gigantic 
dimensions ; sometimes a dust-coloured chapeau, shaven and 
shapeless, like a Yankee stage driver's, in the Prairies. In vain 
I remonstrated against each of these varieties ; in hats he was 
perfectly unmanageable, and resisted most triumphantly the 
'''^ dominion of the Foreian Petticoat. ''"' I doubt not that while 
he is reading this History he has one or other of the offending 
articles on his head. His figure is active and well made, thousfh 
slight ; his address cordial and completely self-possessed ; his 
countenance bright and animated. Pie is a distinguished lawyer ; 
and, among other trusts, has the management of the estate of the 
Prince of Musignano, the son of Joseph Buonaparte, who was his 
dear and intimate friend. My Guardian's character is a mixture 
of English sense, of French excitement, and of American inde- 
pendence ; I believe that he is more attached to the French, as a 
nation, than to the English ; and I attribute this predilection, not 
only to the part taken by the latter in the American struggle for 
independence, but likewise to his admiration for their literature, 



THE HON. C. J. INGERSOLL. 161 

language and character. He is, however, the strong advocate 
of classical education, and affirms without reservation " that the 
dead languages and Ancient History are preferable to all modern 
sciences for information, for juvenile training, for exercising the 
memory, and for diction ; likewise for inculcating the precepts 
and practice of virtue, they are far superior to all modern in- 
struction, and inferior only to the Bible." 



EXTRACT FROM THE HISTORY OF THE LATE WAR. 

The East, commercial and navigating, for whose vindication 
the war was undertaken, opposed it; Massachusetts, (then in- 
cluding Maine,) New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut, 
with a large part of New York, and the majority of New Jersey. 
The West and South, with nothing but principles to fight for, to- 
gether with the large Central States, Virginia and Pennsylvania, 
supported it. Vermont, a frontier state, was the only one of 
New England for the war. As the most violent and influential 
moral resistance to it came from the Eastern clergy, a view of 
that curious offspring of freedom, the American Church, is one 
of the first points for philosophical attention. Not the Church 
of England or of Rome, the Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, or 
any other particular sect of Christian worship, but the whole, in 
all their many varieties and modifications, as developed by Ame- 
rican institutions and influences, and combined in what may be 
denominated the American Church, or the voluntary religion of 
the United States. The political influences of this Church are 
felt every day throughout this country; its action upon the war 
of 1812 is among the most striking and memorable of its cir- 
cumstances. 

European misconception or misrepresentation disparages Ame- 
rican religion. Liberty is always accused by hierarchies of in- 
fidelity and immorality ; the want of ecclesiastical rectitude being 
inferred from the want of political power. Such was the Pagan, 
such is the Mahometan dogma ; and until exploded by American 
devotion, it was a Christian doctrine. The origin of the United 
States of America was more ideal, identical, primordial, and 
pious, than that of any European nation. Emigrants from vari- 
ous countries sought America from sympathetic motives, and 
these colonial settlements were not merely accidental, or their 
governments convulsive, as those of most other nations, but were 
of one mind. Political and religious freedom was their perva- 

11 



1(52 THE HON. C. J. liNGERSOLL. 

ding impulse. Jesuits, Puritans, Quakers, Huguenots, Calvinists, 
they were all missionaries, and many of them martyrs, fugitives 
for conscience, not crime. Bringing with them the free thoughts 
just beginning to arise in Europe, the Bible was the code of 
many, Christianity the common law of all ; and when the French 
and English colonists were led to war against each other, their 
religious and political predilections continued still the same, not- 
withslanding their hostility. 

Similarity of language, much more perfect in the United 
States of America than in any other nation, is not a more effec- 
tual amalgamation than unity of religious and political sympa- 
thy. Instinct with devotional and polemical fervour, American 
relioion passed throuiih the successive stages from ecclesiastical 
domination to toleration, and from that to divorce of Church and 
State, till the dominion of religious liberty has become more po- 
tent than that of absolute hierarchy, and religion seems destined 
to greater supremacy than where Church and State are united. 
Voluntary religion, always progressive with civil liberty, was in 
the grain of American institutions before its incorporation with 
the federal and state constitutions of the United States. Religious 
freedom preceded the Revolution. The Church of England was 
the established church, but tithes and glebes were hardly known. 
While nearly the whole of a vast scarcely inhabited country was 
part of the See of London, Church democracy was working its 
independence of all the old jurisdictions. In that respect so little 
cause of complaint existed that the Declaration of ledependence, 
in its catalogue of grievances, mentions no religious abuse. No 
Unitarian scruple prevented Franklin and Adams from signing 
the definitive treaty of peace with Great Britain, in the name of 
the most holy and undivided Trinity, nor did repugnance to Sla- 
very forbid Jay, together with them, from subscribing to the 
English stipulation that negroes are property. The Articles of 
Confederation bound the states to assist each other against all 
attacks upon any of them on account of religion. But the last 
line of the federal constitution merely declares that no religious 
test shall ever be required as a qualification for any office or 
public trust; to which sparing salvo the first amendment adds, 
that Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of 
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The state con- 
stitutions, more appropriate repositories of such provisions, abound 
with interdicts of all connexion between Church and State and 
with protections for the rights of conscience. 

Christianity is claimed throughout the United States as the 
religion of self-government, the appropriate faith of republicanism. 



THE HON. C. J. INGERSOLL. ]63 

Spontaneous piety produces ecclesiastical establishments of all 
kinds, and pastoral influences are at least as numerous and effec- 
tual as wherever religion is part of politics. Toleration is aa 
American reality ; mere sufferance is unknown. States, society, 
seminaries of education, families, experience no annoyance from 
variety of creeds. Most of the education proceeds from clergy- 
nien ; and is equally acceptable, whether the teacher be a Pres- 
byterian, a Jesuit, or a Quaker. The teacher's merit is, that he 
is qualified to teach, not that he is of any particular creed. The 
extensive school system begun in New England and extending 
every where, fortifies clerical authority by uniting the power of 
knowledge to the strongest of feelings. Religious principle thus 
strengthened by toleration, political separation of Church from 
State has had the further unlooked for result of aggrandizing the 
Church by irresistible influence, beyond that of political govern- 
ment. So intense is religious feeling that political rights are 
even rejected by some because Christianity is not acknowledged 
by the constitution. It is inseparably connected with the whole 
frame of society. American separation of Church and State 
binds them together more closely than ever. Religion is the es- 
sence of governing, though government be dissevered from it. Its 
authority in America exceeds that of the political government. As 
government forbears, religion interposes and becomes the cement 
of the community. The divorce of Church from State, while it 
annuls compulsive obedience and support, substitutes the stronger 
tie of voluntary attachment, which is often enthusiastic. It is only 
necessary to observe how the Sabbath day is kept holy through- 
out the United States, to be sensible of the extensive, nearly uni- 
versal predominance of Church discipline. Free religion has 
raised up a predominant Church, composed of all creeds, which 
rivals, if it does not regulate, the commonwealth. The American 
Church is as well if not better organized than the American 
State. It has its polity, its officers, its constituency, its nume- 
rous sects and controversies ; all movinsj too;ether for relio;ious 
supremacy. It is a dynasty of more unity, perhaps of greater 
perpetuity, than the State. Religious associations, charitable and 
beneficial institutions, combine masses of intelligence, wealth and 
zeal ; all the elements of union, activity and control. The 
Church has more seminaries of learning than the State; more 
constant, ardent and able advocates ; its offices are mostly filled 
by educated men ; there is no rotation in office among them ; the 
incumbent is always so by life tenure; if he behaves well, from 
eighteen to eighty years of age his services, influence, and main- 
tenance do but increase. Ecclesiastical jurisdiction is universal, 



164 THE HON. C. J. INGERSOLL. 

active and uncontradicted, while that of the State is limited, for- 
bearing, timid and often frustrated. The State does not interfere 
with the Church ; while the Church is continually regulating the 
State. Religion in the United States is a vocation more attrac- 
tive, absorbing and profitable than politics. The pecuniary con- 
tributions to ecclesiastical purposes, and their affiliated objects in 
the United States exceed many millions of dollars a year; pro- 
bably as much as an established State Church would cost, per- 
haps as much as the federal government does cost. Church 
missionary establishments, both foreign amd domestic, are more 
extensive and expensive than any relations maintained by the 
federal government. Bible, temperance, abolition of slavery so- 
cieties, and various other combinations, open, ardent, opulent and 
numerous, are constantly in energetic action. They rival, check, 
and control political government. 

Yet the Church has its schisms and feuds when distraction 
vents itself in division ; without superior authority to quell or re- 
gulate them, the church is as liable to commotions as the civil 
government. The most peculiar, if not the most peaceable of all 
governments, the Church is yet without any discipline beyond 
that of reason and of inward faith. Churches are every day in 
America raised and built by popular or polemical preachers. 
Eloquence is Capital as reliable as Orthodoxy. Not only cler- 
gymen, but many others of the devout of both sexes go, as it 
were, armed with controversial talent. Some sects, by printed 
homilies, war on others. Not one is passive, not one obedient to 
government. Many deem it a duty to denounce as sinful what- 
ever political or social error they deem such. Thousands of 
popes excommunicate. The scaffold, stake, and incarceration are 
supplanted by anathemas which, with overwhelming influence, 
attack all backslidings doomed to reprobation. Freedom pre- 
vails in the Church, both as regards the press and speech ; and 
the results of the experiment are wonderfully working out. 

This element of American political influence has been but little 
attended to. Politics, parties, government, society, manners, 
habits, education, feel the meddlesomeness of a voluntary Church, 
whose numberless creeds are propagated by innumerable enthu- 
siasts, all in restless activity, at great expense and at every 
hazard. 

tP TT TT- vp ^ ^ 7P 

The most frequent disparagement cast by Europeans on Ame- 
rican republicanism is its alleged tendency to degenerate ; a down- 
ward tendency, which is to swallow up learning, wealth, liberty, 
and refinement, and establish a despotism of mere vulgarity ; that 



THE HON. C. J, INGERSOLL. 165 

public life is less sought by respectability than elsewhere, or for- 
merly, and that talents avoid it. Whether this be so in America, 
is it more so than elsewhere? Great talents are the creations of 
great conjunctures ; and the tranquillity of the United States has 
been almost uniform under the present forms of government. In 
such circumstances, commercial, professional, and other lucrative 
pursuits are more attractive than politics ; and with the growth 
of luxury, which has been prodigious since the introduction of 
paper money, there will always be a large class preferring 
fashionable idleness to political notoriety. Mdme. de Stael says, 
in her considerations on the French Revolution, that many 
of the old nobility of Europe despised the Emperor Alexander 
as an upstart, not to be received into good society. Social 
and ancestral distinction, a strong desire, more prevalent in 
Europe, is not without acknowledgment in America. Descen- 
dants of celebrated Americans are often chosen into political life 
for that reason. Congress and the state legislatures abound with 
members boasting some family merit, such as kindred with sol- 
diers of the Revolution ; and it is common to meet with Ameri- 
cans who preserve their ancestors' certificates of service in the 
Revolutionary army, as if they were patents of nobility. Besides 
the merits of personal pedigree, Burke eloquently vindicates those 
of honourable national lineage. Yet the country attorneys, vil- 
lao-e lawyers, notaries, brokers, traders, and clowns whom he 
enumerates as the majority of the third estate of the French Na- 
tional Assembly, inferior, in his judgment, to the noblemen and 
gentry he extols as hereditary legislators, enacted laws which 
reformed the crumbling basis of society, and reconstructed France 
so as to render that declining kingdom not only freer, but incom- 
parably happier, richer, and greater than it was before the days 
of what Burke calls its downfall. If De Tocqueville's idea be true, 
that American democracy is irresistibly swallowing up every thing 
else American, and such be the decline which Europe imputes to 
this country ; at all events, Great Britain, France, and all the freer 
kingdoms of Europe, are passing down the same declivity with 
more violence and precipitation than this country, one of whose 
consolations is Jefferson's maxim, that government, at best, is but 
relative good, and that, with all the faults of which it is accused, 
democracy is at least a less injurious and more durable state than 
royalty, since one of the unquestionable consequences of the Ame- 
rican Revolution is, — that revolutionary movements, with equality 
and liberty, have begun throughout the Old World. 



MAJOR-GENERAL EDMUND P. GAINES, 

Commander of the Eastern Division of the American Army. 

At New Orleans I became acquainted with General Gaines, 
who was then one of the notahilites of the celebrated St. Charles' 
Hotel. Since I left the United States (in the ill-fated Great Bri- 
tain, on the 1st of xAugust,) the General's name has frequently- 
appeared in the public prints, in consequence of his being sum 
moned to take his trial before a Court Martial, for raising Volun 
teers to serve in the Mexican War on his own responsibility 
The veteran General received a slight reprimand, intended rathei 
to act as a check on the impetuosity and unconstitutional assump 
tion of military authority on the part of others, than as a serious 
reproof to one who had given nearly three parts of a century to 
the service of the Republic, and whose residue of life would cheer- 
fully be yielded for her safety or her welfare. He has since 
been appointed to active service, and ordered to proceed to the 
seat of war. It is a usual, perhaps it is a natural presupposition, 
to connect the idea of youthful military men with this youthful 
Republic ; we forget that though threescore years and ten are as 
one day in the age of a nation, yet that they comprise the life of 
man. On first seeing General Gaines, had I not known his 
name, I should have supposed him a Marechal of France, of the 
Regime of Napoleon, and should have sought on his breast the 
" Star of the Brave," and the riband of the Legion of Honour. 
He has aided in protecting the cradle of American Independence; 
and though years of service have told their tale upon his earthly 
frame, the soldier's heart is still unchilled, his spirit unsubdued. 
This gallant Officer is eighty-three; he is pale and white haired, 
tall and emaciated ; but his habits are punctual and early,* and 
so strict is his adherence to discipline, that a gentleman told me 
that having heard General Gaines was indis})Osed, he went to see 
him, and found him lying on the bed with his mihtary collar on, 
and his sword by his side; he was with difficulty prevailed on 
to resign the badges of a soldier even while sufrerin^. He is the 
mirror of courtesy to the fair sex, and no gentleman handles a 
lady's fan with greater dexterity; either sitting or standing he 
never forgets to relieve her from the onerous task of fanning 
herself. 

* I remember, with sliame, an appointment to accompany the General to 
the cupola of the St. Charles, one morning- at five o'clock, to see the sun rise. 
The Doctor and I both overslept ourselves. 



LIEUTENANT M. F. MAURY. 167 

In every relation of private life General Gaines is exemplary; 
a most amiable and excellent man ; and doubtless the President 
and the country, in the services of this faithful Officer, will 
reap the reward of the confidence they have reposed in him. 



LIEUTENANT MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY, 

OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY. 

PRINCIPAL OFFICER AT THE OBSERVATORY, AT GEORGETOWN, 
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

Having thus introduced a gallant soldier, I cannot refuse 
myself the pleasure of presenting also an American Sailor to 
my English friends. Lieutenant Matthew Fontaine Maury is 
one of my husband's family; a Virginian, proud of his birth- 
place and his State ; of generous, high bred-nature, and of 
democratic politics. He is a man of science, equally well versed 
in the secrets of the sea and of the sky; an accomplished mariner, 
an admirable astronomer and mathematician, and a superior 
author on many subjects; he writes excellent English. In spite 
of a certain utilitarian antipathy to a very profound study of the 
dead languages, a heresy which has most unaccountably become 
possessed of the Lieutenant in these latter years, he has a very 
classic taste both in reading and composition ; owing, doubtless, 
though he would fain deny it, to his former intimate acquaintance 
with those worthy Greek and Latin Masters, whom he now 
despises for no other reason than that they did not speak 
English, and were dead and buried some hundreds of years before 
the Anglo-Saxon race began. He is a great flivourite with his 
brother officers, both for his ability and his kindly nature ; they 
are proud of the one, and love the other ; and he is held in great 
estimation at Washington for his admirable regulations at the 
Observatory, his eminent professional knowledge and industry, 
his good judgment in political affairs, and his exceeding moral 
worth. " Pray ask him to come and see me often," said Mr. 
Calhoun, " he is a man of most excellent thought." 

Some years ago Lieutenant Maury was thrown from a stage 
coach in Ohio, and broke his leg. I have understood that a 
country practitioner was sent for, who being fortunately ignorant 
of the fatal art of amputation, set to work to save the leg, and 
succeeded. • Maury is lame ; but to this accident is owing the 



168 THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. 

developement of the most touching traits of his character, and 
perhaps of his choicest talents. Incapable of a murmur, suffer- 
ing with manly resolution, and applying himself to every useful 
and philanthropic purpose, his life is a model of the best and 
truest heroism. I have never seen his temper ruffled, nor that 
serene and intelligent countenance overcast ; his philosophy is 
that of the Christian, enduring, elevated, and manly. I love to 
think of his cordial welcome to me, his foreign stranger cousin, 
and of the honest pride he felt in seeing me so well beloved 
among his countrymen ; and I know that he will not forget the 
pleasant time that we have spent together in familiar converse 
about those so dear whom I had left on England's shores. Many 
were the evening hours we sat upon the roof of the Observatory, 
watching the kindling lights of Washington and Georgetown, the 
Capitol glittering in the moonlight, and the stealthy course of the 
gentle Potomac ; we gazed upon the planets, comets, stars, and 
nebula?. We spoke of all the objects that surrounded us, and 
marvelled if in future times we might again behold them in the 
society of those so distant, yet so tenderly remembered. 

The advantages of a tour in Europe would render the Lieu- 
tenant one of the most accomplished professional men living. 
He cordially approved of the Mexican war, and was zealous that 
the Navy should share the glory of the strife. He himself, for- 
s-etful of the bruised and sufferinsj limb, and of a constitution 
injured by its effects, would instantly seize the boarding pike and 
cutlass, and leap to the oar.* 



THE HONOURABLE JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN, 

MEMBER OF THE SENATE FOR SOUTH CAROLINA. 

" A reasoning, high, immortal thing." 

Calhoun is my Statesman. Through good report and through 
evil report; in all his doctrines, whether upon Slavery, Free 
Trade, Nullification, Treasury and Currency Systems, active 
Annexation, or masterly inactivity^ I hold myself his avowed 
and admiring disciple. If this distinguished Statesman could be 
prevailed upon to visit England, either in a public or in a private 
capacity, he would command more admiration, and attract more 

* And fling away that mystical blue and scarlet night cap which, in half 
a second, converts our handsome Lieutenant of the Navy into a quaint old 
Astrologer. 



THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN, 169 

interest than any other man of Europe or of America. The 
very anomaly of his position, the curious coincidences by which 
he becomes the representative of interests, which, nominally at 
least, are in contra-position to each other, and the skill and de- 
termined fidelity with which he unites and guards each several 
one of these interests ; preserving entire the integrity of all ; 
these attributes together compose a character so unique, an 
attitude so extraordinary as to be unparalleled either in his own 
or in any other country of the vvorld. To know, to understand, 
and to appreciate him, it is requisite rapidly to review the mea- 
sures of which he is the acknowledged expounder and advocate. 
The champion of Free Trade; a Slaveholder and Cotton Planter; 
the vindicator of State Rights, and yet a firm believer in the in- 
destructibility of the Federal Union ; now the advocate of war, 
and now of peace; now claimed as a Whig; now revered as a 
Democrat ; now branded as a Traitor ; now worshipped as a 
Patriot; now assailed as a Demon ; now invoked as a Demi-god; 
now withstanding Power, and now the people ; now proudly ac- 
cepting office, now as proudly spurning it ; now goading the Ad- 
ministration, now resisting it ; now counselling, now defying the 
Executive ; — but in all changes of circumstances, all trials of 
patience, in smiling or in adverse fortune, ever forgetful of self, 
and faithful only to the inspirations of the genius and the virtue 
of which his name is the symbol. No vice, no folly, no t^railty 
has soiled his nature, consumed his life, or extorted his remorse ; 
his country has been his sole engrossing passion ; loved with the 
devotion of a Brutus, and served with the fidelity of a Regulus ; 
he has never wasted time ; each moment has been and is em- 
ployed in usefulness ; his public hours in the advancement of 
just and wise measures of policy, and his moments of solitude in 
the study of all subjects which tend to elucidate those measures. 
Politics thus may be considered to have almost exclusively oc- 
cupied the life of this great Statesman ; not the sordid intrigue of 
partisanship, not the venal craving of place and pay, not the 
debasing sacrifice of honesty to popularity ; his soul disdains 
such base employment of her faculties ; nay, I question if, with 
all its keenness, his mind could comprehend such schemes of 
politics. His are not even the tactics of a state or section, 
nor alone those of the United States, or America : but they 
comprise those exalted views which, deduced from philosophy 
and history, and proved by practical experience, are found to 
constitute the true policy of all nations, and to be the universal 
principles of all righteous governments. They are the Decalogue 
OF Republics. And the impression produced by the single 



170 THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. 

mind of this man ; by the principles he has advocated ; by the 
positions he has assumed ; and by the latent rights to which he 
has given form and substance ; will exercise throughout all time 
an influence more deeply based, and more abiding upon the In- 
stitutions of the United States, than any systems or movements 
which have yet been enunciated from the Constitution and pre- 
dicated upon its Laws. 

These principles from youth to manhood, and from manhood 
in its prime to advanced maturity, he has advocated with daunt- 
less courage and unwearied constancy ; no temptation, however 
dazzling, could lure him from the path of duty ; and difficulty 
and danger in vain opposed him. To deny that he has ambition, 
the sole passion which men and angels share in common, would 
be to accuse him of stupidity; the weak, the dull, and the unfeel- 
ing alone are insensible to its instincts ; a mind so exquisitely 
constituted as that of Calhoun could not be io-norant of its own 
powers, nor indifferent to their effects for evil or for good, both 
in his own and in future venerations. But few there are of mortal 
birth whose secret aspirations might, like his, be unfolded to the 
curious and sinister gaze of his fellovv-mcn, and yet found blame- 
less. And what has he to gain by mere external dignities, even 
the highest in the gift of his fellow-citizens; the ephemeral glories 
of the Presidency can add no lustre to his virtue, no honour to his 
name. A higher renown, a noble immortality are his. 

For a period of twenty-two years Mr. Calhoun has been the 
strenuous supporter of unrestricted commercial regulations ; this 
policy is becoming universal throughout the trading world, and 
so far the experience of every day has fully confirmed the expec- 
tations of its advantages. In advocating this system with regard 
to America, this stern republican, in addition to his conviction of 
its innate excellence, and expediency, and truth, was besides 
urged forwards by his dread of a surplus revenue, the natural 
consequence of protective duties, and the evil uses to which such 
surplus revenue might be directed in the unconstitutional usurpa- 
tion and extension of the governing powers. The distribution of 
I the excessive Treasury funds threatened, moreover, to establish a 
correspondenceand union ofmoneyed interests betv/een the Federal 
and the States' Governments, which would have been fatal to all 
the free institutions of the Republic. To prevent these most per- 
nicious, most destructive influences, Mr. Calhoun denounced the 
Tariff of 1828; and, supported by South Carolina alone, "his 
beloved and virtuous State," he stood opposed in the Session of 
1830 in open, undaunted, and single-handed resistance against 
the scheme of " a permanent distribution of the surplus revenue, 



THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. 171 

sustained by ^ perpetual protective Tariff." The attitude as- 
sumed b}^ the State and Mr. Calhoun, is the act of Nullifica- 
tion. " This right of interposition, said Mr. Calhoun, be it call- 
ed what it may, State Right, Veto, Nullification, or by any other 
name, I conceive to be the fundamental principle of our system 
resting on facts historically as certain as our Revolution itself, 
and deductions as simple and demonstrative as that of any poli- 
tical or moral truth whatever."* 

Tiie principle of the State Veto is regarded by Mr. Calhoun as 
the strongest consolidating bond of the Union ;t ivhile any State 

* " Nullification, as declaring null an unconstitutional act of the General 
Government, so far as the State is concerned ; Interposition or State Right, 
as throwing the shield of protection between the citizens of a State and the 
encroachments of the Government ; and Veto, as arresting or inhibiting its 
unautliorized acts within the limits of the State." 

t Third Resolution of Mr. Calhoun, moved in the Senate: — "Resolved, 
That the assertions, that the people of these United States, taken collectively 
as individuals, are now, or ever have been, united on the principle of the 
social compact, and, as such, are now formed into one nation or people, or 
that they have ever been so united in any one stage of their political e\ist. 
ence ; or that the people of the several states comprising the Union have not, 
as members thereof, retained their sovereignty; or that the allegiance of 
their citizens has been transferred to the General Government ; or that they 
have parted with the right of punishing treason tln'ough their respective state 
governments; or that they have not the right of judging, in the Inst resort, 
as to the extent of the powers reserved, and, of consequence, of those dele- 
gated : are not only without foundation of truth, but are contrary to the most 
certain and plain historical facts, and the clearest deductions of reason; and 
that all exercise of power on the part of the General Government, or any of 
its departments, deriving authority from such erroneous assumptions, must 
of necessity be unconstitutional; must tend directly and inevitably to sub- 
vert the sovereignty of the States, to destroy tlie federal character of the 
Union, and to rear on its ruins a consolidated government, without constitu- 
tional check or limitation, and which must necessarily terminate in the loss 
of Hberty itself." 

" I am not ignorant that those opposed to the doctrine have always, now 
and formerly, regarded it in a very different light, as anarchical and revolu- 
tionary. Could I believe such in fact to be its tendency, to me it would be 
no recommendation. I yield to none, I trust, in a deep and sincere attach- 
ment to our political institutions, and the union of these states. I never 
breathed an opposite sentiment; but, on the contrary, I have ever considered 
them the great instrument of preserving our liberty, and promoting the hap- 
piness of ourselves and our posterity ; and, next to these, I have ever held 
them most dear. Nearly half my life has passed in the service of the Union, 
and whatever public reputation I have acquired is indissoluWy identified 
with it. To be too national has, indeed, been considered by many, even of 
my friends, to be my greatest political fault. With tliesc strong feelings of 
attachment, I have examined, with the utmost care, the bearing of the doc- 
trine in question ; and so far from anarchical or revolutionary, I soltminly be- 
lieve it to be the only solid foundation of our system and of the Union itself, 
and that the opposite doctrine, which denies to the states the right of pro- 



172 THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. 

can defend herself individually^ so long is there safety for the 
whole against aggression. And also ; 

The power of the Veto, or of individual State resistance, gene- 
rally understood by the term Nullification, involves, besides the 
power of self-defence, the distinctive preserving principle of the 
united Commonwealths, the vital germ of Federal regeneration ; 
for so loner as one individual State recognises the infallible and 
Sovereign Will of the People, the " Constitution making 
power," so long will there exist the principle of renewal for the 
whole; the model on which maybe reconstructed, should des- 
tiny permit, or corruption induce it to perish, the glorious fabric 
of the Federal Government. 

The exercise of the power of Nullification arose, therefore, in 
resistance to the appropriation by the Federal Government of the 
surplus revenue of the States ; and this abuse was provided 
against by reducing the high 'protective system, which had sup- 
plied the state coffers with a revenue beyond the necessities of 
the Government ; and South Carolina asserted her right of oppo- 
sition by resisting the imposition of the Tariff of 1828. When 
the noble State first took her stand, the very existence of States' 
Rights was almost forgotten in the Union. That a great and 
cheering change has since taken place, all must admit ; and that 
it may be attributed in a great measure to the conduct of South 
Carolina, cannot be doubted. A " Compromise" on the subject 
of the Tariff was effected ; which " Compromise," whether it 
regards Free Trade or Nullification, the time being or the future, 
must be considered as a triumph, by the Republican or non- 
Federalist party.* Nor is this their only triumph. The strong- 

tecting their several powers, and which would vest in the General Govern, 
merit (it matters not through what department) the right of determining, ex- 
clusively and finally, the powers delegated to it, is incompatible with the 
sovereignty of the states and of the Constitution itself, considered as the basis 
of a Federal Union. As strong as this language is, it is not stronger than 
that used by the illustrious Jefferson, who said, to give to the General Go- 
vernment the final and exclusive right to judge of its powers, is to make ''its 
discretion and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers ;^ and that, 'i« 
all cases of compact hetioeen parties having no common judge, each party 
has an equal right to judge for himself, as well of the infraction as of the 
mode and measure of redress.^ " 

* I copy from a publication on the United States the following note : — 
" In connexion with this subject, we quote the following remarks, as ex- 
pressive of the opinions of a large class of the people at this time : — It will 
be seen, by reference to Mr. Calhoun's letter, and the speech of Governor 
Hayne and General Hamilton, that an exercise of the ' Right of Nullifica- 
tion' by the State of South Carolina, having caused the recent adjustment of 
the Tariff, is hereafter to be held as the ' rightful remedy' in either of the 
tiventy-four States, for the redress of any real or imaginary evil arising out 



THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. I73 

nerved policy of Free Trade stands every hour upon more solid 
ground, and will shortly annihilate in every quarter of the Globe 
its powerless and imbecile rival — the prohibitory system. I am 
the daughter, wife, and mother, the sister and friend of mer- 
chants ; in the atmosphere of Commerce I was born and nur- 
tured ; in the principles of Free Trade I was instructed from my 
youth upwards; and I rejoice though a woman, to see them at 
last triumphant, beyond the power of Tariffs, and Prohibitions, 
and Imposts, which a few years more must consign to the grave 
of all' the Capulets. 

These two great doctrines are identified with the name of Mr. 
Calhoun. To prove that time and continued reflection, and ad- 
ditional experience have only contributed to attach him more and 
more strongly to each and both of them, I will mention two re- 
marks which this extraordinary man made to me personally ; the 
last was uttered on an occasion to me most memorable, during a 
farewell visit which I received from him on the morning I left 
Washington. 

" I cannot describe to you," said he, " I cannot express the 
indifference with which I regard the Presidential Chair, compared 
to the honour and the usefulness of establishincf this great mea- 
sure of Free Trade." 

And the second : — 

'* If you should ask me the word that I would wish engraven 
on my tombstone, it is Nullification." 

The course pursued by Mr. Calhoun on the various questions 
arising out of the Bank and Currency arrangements, was still 
the same unreserved adherence to true republicanism. He has 
never shrunk from denouncino; the union of the Government and 
the Bank ; from opposing the establishment of a National Bank, 
and the contraction of Loans; and of State Debts, " which are," 
says he, " little short of frauds upon the Public. My aversion to 
them is deep and durable." Economy in every branch of the 
Administration, and no surplus revenue, have been always the 
recommendations of this incorruptible appreciator of the value, 
and the power, and the evil of money. No man more truly fears 
the embarras de richesses, and the tyranny of an Oligarchy. 

With regard to the Currency, the words of Mr. Calhoun him- 
self will best explain his views. 

" I intend merely to throw out suggestions, in order to excite 
the reflection of others on a subject so delicate and of so much 

of the laws of the United States, or the decisions of the Supreme Court. And 
though Nullification has not been formally acknowledged in Congress as the 
•rightful remedy,' it certainly has been respected as an efficient one." — 
Niles^ Register. 



174 THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. 

importance, acting on the principle that it is the duty of all, in so 
great a juncture, to present their views without reserve. 

" It is, then, my impression that, in the present condition of the 
world, a paper currency, in some form, if not necessary, is almost 
indispensable in financial and commercial operations of civilized 
and extensive communities. In many respects it has a vast superi- 
ority over a metallic currency, especially in great and extended 
transactions, by its greater cheapness, lightness, and the facility of 
determininfi; the amount. The jrreat desideratum is to ascertain 
what description of paper has the requisite qualities of beimg free 
from fluctuation in value, and liability to abuse, in the greatest per- 
fection. I have shown, [ trust, that the bank notes do not pos- 
sess these requisites in a degree sufficiently high for this purpose.' 
1 go farther. It appears to me, after bestowing the best reflection 
I can give the subject, that no convertible paper, that is, no paper 
whose credit rests upon a promise to 2?ay^ is suitable for currency. 
It is the form of credit proper in private transactions between man 
and man, but not for a standard of valu^ to perform exchanges 
generally, which constitutes the appropriate functions of money 
or currency. The measure of safety in the two cases are wholly 
different. A promissory note, or convertible paper, is considered 
safe so long as the drawer has ample means to meet his engage- 
ments, and, in passing from hand to hand, regard is had only to 
his ability and willingness to pay. Very different is the case in 
currency. The aggregate value of the currency of a country 
necessarily bears a small proportion to the aggregate value of its 
property. This proportion is not well ascertained, and is pro- 
bably subject to considerable variation in difTerent countries, and 
at different periods in the same country. It may be assumed 
conjecturally, in order to illustrate what I say, at one to thirty. 

"Assuming this proportion to be correct, which probably is 
not very far from the truth, it follows, that in a sound condition 
of the country, where the currency is metallic, the aggregate 
value of the coin is not more than one in thirty of the aggregate 
value of the property. It also follows that an increase in the 
amount of the currency by the addition of a paper circulation of 
no intrinsic value, but increases the nominal value of the aggregate 
property of the country in the same proportion that the increase 
bears to the whole amount of currency ; so that, if the currency 
be doubled, the nominal value of the property will also be doubled. 
Hence it is, that when the paper currency of a country is in the 
shape of promissory notes, there is a constant tendency to excess. 
We look for their safety to the ability of the drawer ; and so long 
as his means are ample to meet his engagements, there is no dis- 
trust, without reflecting that, considered as currency, it cannot 



THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. I75 

safely exceed one in thirty in value compared to property ; and 
the delusion is farther increased by the constant increase in value 
of property with the increase of the notes in circulation, so as to 
maintain the same relative proportion. It follows that a govern- 
ment may safely contract a debt many times the amount of its 
aggregate circulation ; but if it were to attempt to put its promis- 
sory notes in circulation in amount equal to its debts, an explo- 
sion in the currency would be inevitable. And hence, with other 
causes, the constant tendency to an excessive issue of bank notes 
in prosperous times, when so large a portion of the community 
are anxious to obtain accommodation, and who are disappointed 
when good negotiable paper is refused by the banks, not reflecting 
that it would not be safe to discount beyond the limits I have 
assigned for a safe circulation, however good the paper offered. 

" On what, then, ought a paper currency to rest? I would 
say on demand and supply, simply, which regulates the value of 
every thing else — the constant demand which the Government 
has on the community for its necessary supplies. A medium 
resting on this demand, which simply obligates the Government 
to receive it in all its dues, to the exclusion of every thing else 
except gold and silver, and which shall be optional with those 
who have demands on Government to receive or not, would, it 
seems to me, be as stable in its value as those metals themselves, 
and be as little liable to abuse as the power of coining. It would 
contain within itself a self-regulating power. It could only be 
issued to those who had claims on the Government, and to those 
only with their consent, and, of course, only at or above par 
with gold and silver, which would be its habitual state ; for, as 
far as the Government was concerned, it would be equal in every 
respect, to gold and silver, and superior in many, particularly in 
regulating the distant exchanges of the country. Should, how- 
ever, a demand for gold and silver from abroad, or other accidental 
causes, depress it temporarily, as compared with the precious 
metals, it would then return to the treasury ; and as it could not 
be paid out during such depression, its gradual diminution in the 
market would soon restore it to an equality, when it would again 
flow out into the general circulation. Thus there would be a 
constant alternate flux and reflux into and from the Treasury, 
between it and the precious metals ; but if at any time a perma- 
nent depression in its value be possible, from any cause, the only 
effect would be to operate as a reduction of taxes on the commu- 
nity, and the only sufferer would be the government itself. 
Against this, its own interest would be a sufficient guarantee." 

The abduction of a man from his country is unjustifiable both 
by the laws of God and Man. 



176 THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. 

So Slavery as an abstract principle is repugnant to our nature, 
and opposed to every right of the human race. But the con- 
tinuance and maintenance of the political and social institution 
of Slavery as it now exists in the Southern States of America, 
is a matter to be considered under wholly different relations, and 
aspects, and consequences. 

Mr. Calhoun is the determined upholder of the existing system 
of Slavery, and of Slave holding rights; his opinions are 
founded upon constitutional and legal government acts ; upon 
the rights of property ; upon the necessity of Slave labour in 
certain sections of the Union ; upon the balance of power between 
the several States : upon the prosperity and means of life of the 
white population ; and lastly, uiwn the ivelfare, happiness, and 
existence of the Slave ; — for Calhoun loves his Slave. He would 
not yield his faithful, affectionate, born, hereditary Slave and 
friend to the tender mercies of either American or English 
Abolitionists. And here let me say a few words on the merits 
of the Slaveholder, in general ; of him whom the Abolitionists 
would sweep away from the face of nations, because he is the 
guardian of more rights and feelings than they can understand, 
the source of more happiness to a greater number of men, 
women, and children, than all their pharisaical sentiment could 
imagine. He watches his Slaves in their sickness, provides for 
their hunger, thirst, and age; protects their wives, and nourishes 
their children ; addresses them with kindness, reproves their 
faults, and punishes their vices ; like the patriarchs of old, he is 
the Father as well as the Master of his people; and I candidly 
and boldly say, that I have never seen the Masters of free white 
men behave towards them so justly or so mercifully, so familiarly, 
so confidingly, as the Slave owner behaves to those who are his 
property. The fanatics (I beg their pardon, the philanthropists,) 
' who preach emancipation, would they succour the liberated slave l 
would they share with him, his wife, and children, the growth of 
their fields, the produce of their farms ? They shrink from the 
responsibility of providing for him, though not from the responsi- 
bility of ruining him. Not one practical remedy have the whole 
2D0sse of Abolitionists ever conceived in their united wisdom. I 
have repeatedly asked the question of noted leaders of this schism, 
" If I gave you the whole Slave population into your hands at 
this moment, what would you do with them V " Send them 
to Liberia," says one. " Ay, but will they go 1" " No." " And 
could you send them if they would ?" " No," still. " Educate 
them," says another, " and disperse them throughout the States." 
" And would the States receive them ?" Ohio answers (honestly 



THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. I77 

enough), for all the rest, " Why, no."* And some, even more 
irrational than the rest, declare that they would deliver up the 
Sovereignty of the Southern States of the Union to the black 
population. Quern Deus vidt perdere, priUs demeniat. God 
forbid, for all our sakes, that either they or I should ever live to 
see the day. Some would buy them ; and I have been positively 
assured that New England would become the purchaser ; I guess^ 
if put to the proof, these thrifty States would never spend their 
ineffable dollars upon Slaves, which, they know well, would prove 
bitter thorns in possession. Besides, the fatal experiment of the 
English West Indies is before them ; and is a signal proof that 
the very best intentions, even when backed by twenty millions 
sterling, do not always result in success. 

By the universal acknowledgment of the Abolitionists them- 
selves, the Slaves of the United States are the happiest of all the 
labouring classes upon the face of the earth ; the best fed, best 
clothed, and least oppressed with work. They acknowledge 
what we all must see, that the sole advantage possessed by the 
ivhite Slaves of Europe over the black Slaves of America is, that 
the former have permission (if they can obtain the power), to 
drag their sorrow and their suffering from one spot to another ; 
to change each naked, hungry, and intolerable bondage for a 
worse ; a7id this the ivhite man must call Liberty ! The latter 
must enjoy their comfort in the home of their birthright; they 
are compelled to serve one master, and unless the bitter necessity 
of that master, or their own vice, should compel him to banish his 
Slaves, t the latter must eat of his bread and drink of his cup, and 
depend upon his prudence, and share his abundance while they 
both shall live ; and this the black man must call Slavery .^" 

" That which we call a rose, 
By any other name would smell as sweet : 
So Slavery would, were it not Slavery called, 
Retain the gentle charities it owes 
Without that title." 

It is acknowledged, then, that poverty and privation are the in- 
heritance of all the serving classes in the world — the American 
Slave alone excepted; — then why, I would solemnly ask. of you, 
vain-glorious, hollow, and pretended advocates of liberty, w^hy, 
in the name of that remnant of contented bondsmen, why do you 

* Four hundred liberated Slaves, belonging to the late John Randolph, of 
Roanoke, were recently refused permission to enter the State of Ohio. 

t The saddest sight a planter can behold is the sale of his Slave, and it is 
the last alternative to which his poverty consents. 

12 



178 THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. 

perplex yourselves and them ? For Heaven's fair sake leave 
these negroes, the few remaining happy labourers who yet exist, 
to eat the bread of peace, and to dance and sing in the groves 
which they have planted. 

Does any man in his senses believe that the Eindncipation of 
the Slave is the object so dear to the heart of these agitators ? 
We know perfectly well that it is not. Emancipation is only the 
cheval de bataille on which they mount when any ulterior pur- 
poses require some extra-pompous paces to be exhibited. The 
American Abolitionists mount him to trample down, if possible, 
the political power and influence of the antagonistic Slaveholding 
States ;* and the English Abolitionists, I blush to say it, for a 
meaner purpose still — that of self-parade and glorification. Bid 
the former look at the emancipated Slaves in Boston, New York, 
and Philadelphia, and be careful how they, by their schemes of 
ambition, increase the numbers of those victims of folly, and of 
misery and vice. Free negroes are the only beggars in the 
United States ! 

And for the latter, the English Abolitionists, bid them return 
to Ireland, and to England, and to London, the famishing and 
enslaved abode of a Queen, and let them there learn and practise 
the Christian and rational charity that begins at home. 

Until Providence shall have developed in a more obvious, clear, 
and decided manner, its future dispensations in regard to Slavery ; 
until some fresh and prominent feature shall be made manifest, 
and shall distinctly indicate to man a destined change in this 
institution, the self-evident part of wisdom is forbearance from all 
action, 

Mr. Calhoun was in favour of the Annexation of the Texas to 
the United States, and recommended that the Oregon should be 
left to take care of itself — which it will do. " There is often, in the 
affairs of Government," says he, " more efficiency and wisdom in 
non-action than in action. In the period of thirty-two years which 
have elapsed since I took my seat in the other house, the Indian 
frontier has receded a thousand miles to the West. The tide of 
our population will soon — far sooner than anticipated — reach the 

* But suffer me to turn aside for a few seconds, while I record one bright 
exception to this clause. There is a man of pure and modest nature, " of 
character fertile in each good and great qualification," whose deep-toned and 
peculiar humanity advocates Emancipation for Liberty'' s sake alone. That 
man is William Henry Seward. Even while I detail the strong and truth- 
ful expression of my sentiments on Slavery, the sorrow which my pen inflicts 
on him, the adopted brother of my love, awakens sensations of exceeding 
pain. 



THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. I79 

Rocky Mountains, and be ready to pour into the Oregon Territory, 
when it will come into our possession without resistance or 
struggle ; or, if there should be resistance, it would be feeble and 
ineffectual." He was vehemently opposed to the present Mexican 7 
War, and during the hasty discussion which occurred upon the 
Declaration, he was agitated by the most intense emotions. 
Singly and alone he stood in the Senate, and called on every 
good man to avert so ignominious a war ; he asked for explana- 
tions, implored for time, and declared that the relative position of 
the two countries was not such as to justify the Bill. In vain. 
In hot haste the deed was done. The united Senate was against 
him, and the hostile measures prevailed ; but in this act the 
name of Calhoun is not recorded. " They would not give me 
time," said he, " to understand what they were doing ; and there- 
fore I refused my vote: it was never given upon that Bill." 

Thus, once upon the internal policy of the country, and once 
upon her foreign policy, has this undaunted statesman stood per- 
sonally and individually opposed to the Executive. 

The attack of the English frigate Leopard on the American 
frigate Chesapeake was the cause which brought Mr. Calhoun 
into public life, in the year 1807. He was then twenty-three 
years of age. He was elected a member of the State Legislature 
of South Carolina, and served two Sessions. In 1811 he took 
his seat in the councils of the nation, with two distinguished col- 
leagues, Mr. Lowndes and Mr. Cheves, who, like himself, had 
been elected in reference to the critical condition of the country, 
especially with regard to Great Britain. He was immediately 
placed on the Committee of Foreign Relations. In 1817, Mr. 
Calhoun accepted an invitation from Mr. Monroe to take a place 
in his Cabinet as Secretary of War, which position he occupied 
for more than seven years, to the great advantage both of the 
Department and the country. In 1825 he was elected Vice-Pre- 
sident, and fulfilled the arduous duties of that office until the year 
1832-3. At the commencement, therefore, of the struggle which 
ended in the triumph of the State Rights party, Mr. Calhoun held 
the office of Vice-President, when he resigned this honourable 
post for the still more honourable one of Representative and 
Guardian of South Carolina in the Senate. In his career in that 
body he continued, on the various questions of the Bank, the 
Tariff, and the distribution of the Public Lands, to adhere to the 
principles of Republicanism which he has during his life contri- 
buted so courageously to assert, and so triumphantly to vindicate. 

In Mr. Tyler's Administration, he held the post of Secretary 
of State ; and was removed from the Cabinet on the formation of 



< 



180 THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. 

the existing Administration. " On the occasion of his removal," 
said Charles Ingersoll, " Mr. Calhoun behaved like an angel." 

He came into the Senate, in the Congress of 1845-6, to pre- 
serve the peace between the two mightiest nations of the earth ; 
and he proved himself equal to the emergency, by his fulfilment 
of the trust that a nation had reposed in him. 

The private position of Mr. Calhoun is as remarkable as his 
public station. An hereditary Slave owner, he was born and 
educated a ruler ; he sways his people with justice and mercy, 
and the habitual possession of power has revealed to him the 
secrets of the art of Government. His gracious, princely nature, 
accustomed to give command without a[)peal, is equally accus- 
tomed to receive submission without reserve ; hence his gentle- 
ness ; hence his indulgence ; hence his compassion ; no vulgar 
upstart display of authority is traced in his intercourse with those 
who own him for their Lord ; " he saith to one man, come, and 
he Cometh ; and to another, go, and he goeth ;" and he is served 
with the perfect love that casteth out fear. 

And to this education in the art of Government, as Slave- 
holders at home, and from their birth, it is mainly owing that the 
Statesmen of the Southern Sections display such rare, such ex- 
celling wisdom in their discharge of the Offices of the Republic. 
O^ eleven Presidents, three only have been from other portions 
of the Union ; two from Massachusetts, and one from New York. 
To the Northern and Eastern States may be awarded many 
attributes essential to the prosperity of a country and the increase 
of wealth ; but from the South have sprung the helmsmen that 
have steered the Ark of the Republic. Their minds are more 
universal, as well as more concentrating, more deliberative, as 
well as more daring ; and to these latter is also accorded the pre- 
eminence in the study of mathematics, and the power of analysis. 
Doubtless, origin, climate, and constitution contribute powerfully 
to organize the faculties of man ; but I assign the system of 
Slavery as one of the most vital influences in forming that capa- 
city/or rule so characteristic of the Southern race. 

The cotton planters of the United Stales possess a monopoly, 
bestowed upon them by nature, which places in their hands an 
immense controlling power, both in America and in England; 
and as Free Trade advances, this power will extend to other Eu- 
ropean countries. Suppose our own case ; if in any dispute these 
States should refuse to grow a sufficiency of the staple, or should 
lay an embargo upon it, Manchester, Bolton, Glasgow, and other 
manufacturing districts, would be revolutionized and ruined. It 
is true that the planters themselves would suffer to a certain de- 



THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. X81 

gree, but they possess within their estates all the means of life. 
Without money^ they could exist — and without any difficulty ; 
for they could always provide for their own consumption, corn, 
pork, cotton, sugar, and other necessaries. There is, perhaps, 
no race of men in the world so independent of his neighbour as 
the American planter, and none so powerful as a regulator of the 
prosperity of his own and other nations. However mortifying it 
may be to haughty England to acknowledge it, no other sources 
can supply her wants. 

The first time I saw Mr. Calhoun was in the Senate. A west- 
ern member was urging war for Oregon ; Calhoun sat silent, but 
was visibly chafed. The first time I heard him speak, the words 
were words of peace and praise for England. This was the only 
time during the space of a month that the name of my country 
had been uttered except in anger, — and the voice of Calhoun was 
as the voice of an angel ; — and for many minutes I wept, over- 
come by feelings which it were a vain attempt to describe. His ~1 
appearance is unlike that of other men. His person is tall and i 
thin, and I have always seen him dressed in black. His action 
is quick, and both in society and in the Senate very expressive. 
He speaks with the utmost rapidity, as if no words could convey 
his speed of thought ; his face is all intellect, with eyes so daz- 
zling, black, and piercing that few can stand their gaze. Sixty- 
four years have left their dark centre yet undimrned, and the sur- . 
rounding blue liquid and pure as the eye of childhood. I have_J 
seen but one alone with eyes so beautiful. Sometimes their in- 
tense look is reading each thought of youi' bosom ; sometimes 
they are beaming with the inspirations of his own. I believe they 
give out light in the dark. And I have often beheld them suf- 
fused with emotion, when the feelings of that ingenuous breast 
have been excited by honest praise, or moved by sympathy. 
Mr. Calhoun's general expression is that of unceasing mental ac-~7 
tivity and great decision. His forehead is broad and full ; a deep 
furrow extends quite across, and above the eyebrows there is con- 
siderable fulness. His hair is thick, and long, and straight, and | 
gray, and is thrown back from his face ; the eyebrows are very ' 
near to the eye, and the cheeks are denuded of flesh. The mouth 
is thin, and somewhat inclined downwards at the corners ; it is 
the proud and melancholy lip of Dante. His complexion is 
bronzed by the sun of the South. 

I was often at the house of Mr. Calhoun, and if I admired his 
public career, I honoured even more his pure and lovely private 
life. I have understood that one reason of his declining the 
mission to England, in 1845, was the indisposition of his daugh- 



182 THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. 

ter, whom he had himself attended during the arduous period 
that he was Secretary of State. He is adored in his family, and 
his manners, at all times agreeable, at home are captivating. 
" Would you wish me," said he, " to leave my family, to sacri- 
fice one-tenth part of the portion of life that yet remains to me, 
to go to England ? I have made an allotment of these years ; a 
portion for America, a portion for my own private affairs, (for I 
am a planter, and cannot afford to be idle,) and a portion I have 
reserved for peculiar purposes connected only with myself. But 
convince me that my Duty is involved in any measure, and as 
that has been through life my guide, so luill I yielcV (He is 
— ^~ the most unpersuadable of men.) 

" Mr. Calhoun," said I, speaking of America, " you are a 
great experiment." 

" We are more," said he, " we are a great hit." 

" Will the Atlantic and the Pacific States be divided into sepa- 
rate Republics?" 
I " They cannot be ; the Mississippi, a great inla?id sea, will 
l^ keep them united. The Union is indissoluble." 

On the 5th of February, I inquired, " Mr. Calhoun, what is in 
the future?" 

" Peace and Free Trade," said he. And Peace we have, and 
he made it ; and Free Trade we have, and to him we owe it. 
Both measures are emphatically his work. 

" What is the crop of cotton ?" 

" Below tivo millions of bales.'''' 

" I have eight sons in England." 

" Bring them all here ; we are an exulting nation ; let them 
grow up with the country; besides, here they do not want wealth. 
<f I would not be rich in America, for the care of money would dis- 
tract my mind from more important concerns." 

*' Give the Planters Free Trade, and let every Planter be the 
pare7it as well as the master of his Slaves ; that is, let the Slaves 
be made to do their duty, as well as to eat, drink, and sleep : let in- 
dustry and morality be taught them, and the Planter vvill have 
reason to be satisfied ; he vvill always obtain seven or eight per 
cent, upon the value of his Slaves; and need never be compelled 
to the distressing alternative of parting with them, unless he 
allows them, by over indulgence, to waste his substance." 

" Sir Robert Peel," observed Mr. Calhoun, " is the great 
Minister of Transition." 

" I fear his Income Tax will render England a more extreme 
Oligarchy than she already is," said I. 



THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. 1Q3 

" Very probably ; still, there is much Freedom in your Eno-- 
land." 

" The past is gone ; the present is no more ; the future alone is 
ours." This was said, one day, in reference to the general 
maxims of life and living. 

" I like balls, they are beautiful things ; but now I have a 
cough, (which I caught at the Convention of Memphis,) and I ^» 
fear the evening air." 

"Ladies should always be dressed in white, and wear a gir- 
dle." 

Mr. Calhoun has great respect for such external forms as tend 
to promote order and dignity ; and I believe it was he who esta- 
blished the rule, (during his Vice-Presidency,) that the Members 
of the Senate should be addressed by their distinctive appellation 
of" Senators." 

" We Americans are the most excitable people on earth : we >,^^^ 
have plenty to eat and to drink, so we seek war for sport, that we ,/ 
may exhaust ourselves and our exuberance." 

" Look at the mighty Mississippi ! Twenty hundred miles 
you may travel on his waters ; go on for days and nights, and 
see no change; it is a valley that would contain all Europe." 

On the morning after the Free Trade measures were carried 
in the House, I saw Mr. Calhoun for the last time. After a 
struggle of two and twenty years. Truth and He had been 
successful, but no personal exultation sparkled in his eye, or 
triumphed in his words. The measure and its great conse- 
quences alone occupied his thoughts. " And there will be no re- 
action," said he, " which ought always to be avoided ; I have 
ever most carefully guarded against it." 

" I refused the Mission to England, because the Peace was to 
be made Jicre; England did not want war. I should have been 
of no use there ; here I could do much." It is generally 
acknowledged that Mr. Calhoun was prevailed upon to re-enter 
the Senate to effect this object, and that the generality of the 
Whigs had coalesced with his party upon this point; certain 
it is that they (the Whig party) voted with Mr. Calhoun during 
the Session of 1845-6, on every subject. Free Trade alone 
excepted. 

"Mr. Calhoun, you are very dear to England for the sake 
of this peace and this Free Trade." " I did not think," he 
answered, " that my name was even known in England, where I 
myself have never been." 

" The British government has exhibited the greatest wisdom, 
judgment, and magnanimity. Had there been the least false step 



184 THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. 

on the other side — had the speeches in Parliament, or the articles 
in the public journals, been of an exasperating character — we 
could not then have arranored matters on this side as we have done. 
No two men could have displayed more integrity of purpose, 
more forbearance, and more sagacity, than Lord Aberdeen and 
Sir Robert Peel." 

From a singular coincidence of circumstances, I had the happy 
fortune to convey to Mr. Calhoun the testimonies offered to his 
worth by many leading men. 

" The President declares that you possess his perfect confidence 
and his highest personal esteem. Buchanan pronounces you pre- 
eminent in talent and virtue. Mr. Crittenden, Mr. Winthrop, 
Mr. Benton, Mr. Hannegan, have all expressed for themselves 
and their respective parties, the highest encomiums that men can 
utter of each other."* And Calhoun spoke not; but his eye 
glistened, and in silence he took my hand, and pressed it. How 
{ew have been indulged with such a privilege ; a stranger and a 
sojourner among them, to me it was permitted to convey the 
tribute awarded by these distinguished Americans to the virtues 
of their fellow-citizen. 

Inflexible, self-sacrificing, and proud, this extraordinary per- 
sonage is akin to the great names of antiquity; his sentiments are 
proverbs; his forecast is prophecy. He is self-made; no external 
advantages have contributed to the form.ation of his mind and 
character; he received no elaborate college education; derived no 
advantages from extensive foreign travel; no thousjhts nor words 
from the prompting of other gifted men; he has never crossed the 
Ocean. Simple and frank, no secrets, no mystery, exist in his 
presence ; all that he thinks, or hopes, or observes, is expressed 
in unreserved and natural truthfulness; no suspicion clouds his 
bright mind, and his remonstrance is administered openly and 
directly, for he deals not in the vulgarity of calumny. He is 
pledged to no party : " I am the* partisan of no class, nor, let me 
add, of either political party. I am neither of the opposition nor 
administration." He holds in supreme contempt all arts to obtain 
popularity ; independence and integrity to him are of priceless 
worth : 

" His honour is his life, both grow in one, 
Take honour from him, and his life is done." 

Twice he has turned aside his footsteps from the Presidency; 

* Mr. Crittenden is the representative of the polities of Mr. Clay, in the 
Senate. Mr. Winthrop is the Whig leader in the Lower House. Mr. Benton 
and Mr. Hannegan are the Democratic representatives of diiFerent sections 
and parties of the West. 



THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. 185 

once for friendship's, once for duty's sake.* "I will not sacrifice 
the shadow of a principle for its possession ; and never, never 

* "During the second term of Mr. Monroe's administration, the names of 
six candidates were presented to the people of the United States for the 
Presidential office — Mr. Adatns, Mr. Crawford, General Jackson, Mr. Clay, 
Mr. Lowndes, and Mr. Calhoun. The names of the two latter had been 
brought forward, the former by South Carolina, and the latter by Pennsyl- 
vania, and both nearly at the same time, without its being known to either 
tliat it was intended. They were warm and intimate friends, and had been 
so almost from their first acquaintance. They had both entered Congress 
at the same time, and had rarely ever differed in opinion on any political 
subject. Mr. Lowndes was a few years the oldest, and the first nominated, 
Mr. Calhoun's nomination followed almost immediately af\er. As soon as 
he heard of it, he called on Mr. L. and stated that it had been made with- 
out his knowledge or solicitation, and that he called to say that he hoped 
the position in which they had been placed by their friends towards each 
other would not affect their private and friendly relations. That he would 
regard it as a great misfortune should such be the effect, and was determined 
on his part to do everything to avoid it. Mr. Lowndes heartily reciprocated 
the same sentiment. It is unnecessary to state that they faithfully adhered 
to their resolutions; and these two distinguished citizens of the same state, 
and nearly of the same age, set the noble and rare example of being placed 
by friends as rivals for the highest office in the gift of a great people, without 
permitting their mutual esteem and friendship to be impaired." 

"In the progress of the canvass the talented and lamented Lowndes died, 
in the prime of life, and Mr. Calhoun's friends in Pennsylvania, with his 
acquiescence, withdrew his name, rather than subject the state to a violent 
contest between them and the friends of General Jackson. They had main- 
tained throughout the canvass the most friendly relations, and were both de- 
cidedly opposed to the caucus. On his withdrawal, he was taken up by the 
friends both of General Jackson and Mr. Adams for the ViccPresidcncy." 
******* 

"The Senate was so nearly equally divided at one time," that it was be- 
lieved that the friends of the administration would intentionally so arrange 
it as to make a tie, and throw the casting vote on the Vice-President, in order 
to defeat General Jackson's election. His friends became alarmed, and some 
of them intimated a desire that Mr. Calhoun should leave his scat to avoid 
the effect, stating, as an inducement, that, in the event of a tie, the bill would 
be defeated without his vote. He promptly refused, and replied that no con- 
sideration could prevent him from remaining and doing his duty by voting 
against it; but added, it should not hurt General Jackson's election, for in 
that event his name should be withdrawn from the ticket as Vice-President. 
Such was the interest he took in his success, and so strong, and, at the same 
time, so patriotic, was his opposition to the bill of abominations ; and yet 
many have been so unjust as to attribute his afler opposition to the bill to 
disappointed ambition. On the contrary, he was ready to sacrifice every ob- 
ject of ambition, at a time when not a cloud darkened his prospects, to defeat 
a measure he believed to be so fraught with mischief. He was then the 
second officer in the Government, and stood, without opposition, for re-election 
to the same place, on the ticket of General Jackson, whose success was then 
certain; nor was there any other man in the party of equal prominence and 

» Upon the Tariff of 1828. 



186 THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. 

will I be nominated by a Caucus."* And the smile of bitterest 
scorn was revealed on the reproachful lip of the noble South 
Carolinian. 

Never was a man so adored as Calhoun by his State. "South 
Carolina alone stood by me." " She is my dear and honoured 
State." "South Carolina has never mistrusted nor forsaken me." 
" Mine she faithfully has ever been." And as he hung upon her 
memory and her devotion, her Statesman evinced the tenderness 
and pride with which a lover dwells upon the constancy of his 
mistress. His breath came quick and short, his proud head was 
flung back, and his voice was subdued by emotion. 

At this moment he is the most powerful man in the Union, 
and holds the most commanding and dignified position, from the 
success of the measures he has advocated, and the correctness 
with which his predictions have been verified ; — 

Peace and Free Trade are achieved ; and 

Mexico is still unconquered ; and 

Calhoun is Lord of the Ascendant. 

Such is this great citizen and Statesman. So exalted in ge- 
nius, so excellent in virtue ; I part from him now with sorrow, 
as I did before in Washington, when he twice returned to say — 
Farewell — before he left me; but well I know, that however 
distant from him and from his country, I shall ever hold fast my 
place in his memory and in his affections. His sentiments and 
character, as 1 trace them in his speeches, form a portion of my 
daily study. 



EXTRACT FROM SPEECH ON THE RESTRICTIVE SYSTEM. 

" The restrictive system," he said, " as a mode of resistance, 
or as a means of obtaining redress, has never been a favourite 
one with me. I wish not to censure the motives which dictated 
it, or attribute weakness to those who first resorted to it for a 

popularity, except the General himself. Nothing was wanting on his part 
but to accommodate himself to the course of events, without regard to their 
effects on the country, to have attained the highest office, which lay within 
a single step from the place where he then stood. This he could not but 
plainly see; but his resisting temptation on this occasion is but one instance 
of self-sacrifice among many in a long life, the whole course of which abun- 
dantly proves that office, even the highest, has ever been with him snbordi- 
nate to his sense of duty and the pubHc welfare." 

* A Caucus is a Convention assembled to nominate the candidates for the 
Presidency. 



THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. jg? 

restoration of our rights. But, I object to the restrictive system 
because it does not suit the genius of the people, or that of our 
CTOvernment, or the geographical character of our country. We 
are a people essentially active ; I may say we are pre-eminently 
so. No passive system can suit such a people ; in action supe- 
rior to all others, in patient endurance inferior to none. Nor 
does it suit the genius of our Government. Our Government is 
founded on freedom, and hates coercion. To make the restric- 
tive system effective, requires the most arbitrary laws. England, 
with the severest penal statutes, has not been able to exclude 
prohibited articles ; and Napoleon, with all his power and vigi- 
lance, was obliged to resort to the most barbarous laws to enforce 
his Continental system," 

After showing how the whole mercantile community must be- 
come corrupt by the temptations and facilities for smuggling, and 
how the public opinion of the commercial community (upon 
which the system must depend for its enforcement), becomes op- 
posed to it, and gives sanction to its violation, he proceeds — 

" But there are other objections to the system. It renders Go- 
vernment odious. The farmer inquires why he gets no more for 
his produce, and he is told it is owing to the embargo, or com- 
mercial restrictions. In this he sees only the hand of his own 
Government, and not the acts of violence and injustice which 
this system is intended to counteract. His censures fall on the 
Government. This is an unhappy state of the public mind ; and 
even, I might say, in a Government resting essentially on public 
opinion, a dangerous one. In war it is different. Its privation, 
it is true, may be equal or greater; but the public mind, under 
the strong impulses of that state of things, becomes steeled against 
sufferings. The difference is almost infinite between the passive 
and active state of the mind. Tie down a hero, and he feels the 
puncture of a pin ; throw him into battle, and he is almost insen- 
sible to vital gashes. So in war. Impelled alternately by hope 
and fear, stimulated by revenge, depressed by shame, or elevated 
by victory, the people become invincible. No privation can 
shake their fortitude; no calamity break their spirit. Even when 
equally successful, the contrast between the two systems is strik- 
ing. War and restriction may leave the country equally ex- 
hausted ; but the latter not only leaves you poor, but, even when 
successful, dispirited, divided, discontented, with diminished pa- 
triotism, and the morals of a considerable portion of your people 
corrupted. Not so in war. In that state, the common danger 
unites all, strengthens the bonds of society, and feeds the flame 
of patriotism. The national character mounts to energy. In 



188 THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. 

exchange for the expenses and privations of war, you obtain mi- 
litary and naval skill, and a more perfect organization of such 
parts of your Administration as are connected with the science 
of national defence. Sir, are these advantages to be counted as 
trifles in the present state of the world ? Can they be measured 
by moneyed valuation? I would prefer a single victory over the 
enemy, by sea or land, to all the good we shall ever derive from 
the continuation of the Non-importation Act. I know not that a 
victory would produce an equal pressure on the enemy; but I 
am certain of what is of greater consequence, it would be accom- 
panied by more salutary effects on ourselves. The memory of 
Saratoga, Princeton, and Eutaw is immortal. It is there you 
will find the country's boast and pride — the inexhaustible source 
of great and heroic sentiments. But what will history say of re- 
striction 1 What examples worthy of imitation will it furnish to 
posterity ? What pride, what pleasure, will our children fmd in 
the events of such times ] Let me not be considered romantic. 
This nation ought to be taught to rely on its courage, its forti- 
tude, its skill and virtue, for protection. These are the only 
safeo-uards in the hour of dano;er. Man was endued with these 
great qualities for his defence. There is nothing about him that 
indicates that he is to conquer by endurance. He is not incrusted 
in a shell ; he is not taught to rely upon his insensibility, his 
passive suffering, for defence. No, sir; it is on the invincible 
mind, on a magnanimous nature, he ought to rely. Here is the 
superiority of our kind; it is these that render man the lord of 
the world. It is the destiny of his condition that nations rise 
above nations, as they are endued in a greater degree with these 
brilliant qualities." 



EXTRACT FROM THE SPEECH AGAINST THE FORCE BILL. 

Here I must pause for a moment to repel a charge which has 
been so often made, and which even the President* has reiterated 
in his proclamation ; the charge that T have been actuated in the 
part which I have taken by feelings of disappointed ambition. I 
again repeat that I deeply regret the necessity of noticing myself 
in so important a discussion ; and that nothing can induce me to 
advert to my own course but the conviction that it is due to the 

* General Jackson. 



THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. jqq 

cause at which a blow is aimed through me. It is only in this 
view that I notice it. 

It ill became the Chief Magistrate to make this charge. The 
course which the State took, and which led to the present con- 
troversy between her and the General Government, was taken 
as far back as 1828, in the very midst of that severe canvass 
which placed him in power, and in that very canvass Carolina 
openly avowed and zealously maintained those very principles 
which he, the Chief Magistrate, now officially pronounces to be 
treason and rebellion. That was the period at which he ought 
to have spoken. Having remained silent then, and having, under 
his approval, implied by that silence, received the support and 
vote of the State, I, if a sense of decorum did not prevent it, 
might recriminate with the double charge of deception and in- 
gratitude. My object, however, is not to assail the President, 
but to defend myself against a most unfounded charge. The 
time alone at which the course upon which this charge of clisap- 
pointed ambition is founded, will of itself repel it, in the eye of 
every unprejudiced and honest man. The doctrine which I now 
sustain, under the present dilHculties, I openly avowed and main- 
tained immediately after the act of 1828 ; that " bill of abomi- 
nations," as it has been so often and properly termed. Was I 
at that period disappointed in any views of ambition which I 
might be supposed to entertain ? I was Vice-President of the 
United States, elected by an overwhelming majority. I was a 
candidate for re-election on ihe ticket with General Jackson him- 
self, with a certain prospect of a triumphant success of that 
ticket, and with a fair prospect of the highest office to which an 
American citizen can aspire. What was my course under these 
prospects ? Did I look to my own advancement, or to an honest 
and faithful discharge of my duty ] Let facts speak for them- 
selves. When the bill to which I have referred came from the 
other house to the Senate, the almost universal impression was, 
that its fate would depend upon my casting vote. It was known 
that, as the bill then stood, the Senate was nearly equally di- 
vided ; and as it was a combined measure, originating with the 
politicians and manufacturers, and intended as much to bear 
upon the Presidential election as to protect manufactures, it was 
believed that, as a stroke of political policy, its fate would be 
made to depend on my vote, in order to defeat General Jackson's 
election, as well as my own. The friends of General Jackson 
were alarmed, and I was earnestly entreated to leave the chair 
in order to avoid the responsibility, under the plausible argument 
that, if the Senate should be equally divided, the bill would be 



190 THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. 

lost without the aid of my casting vote. The reply to this en- 
treaty was, that no consideration personal to myself could in- 
duce me to take such a course ; that 1 considered the measure 
as of the most dangerous character, and calculated to produce 
the most fearful crisis ; that the payment of the public debt was 
just at hand ; and that the great increase of revenue which it 
would pour into the Treasury would accelerate the approach of 
that peri(xl, and that the country would be placed in the most 
trying of situations, with an immense revenue without the means 
of absorption upon any legitimate or constitutional object of ap- 
propriation, and would be compelled to submit to all the corrupt- 
ing consequences of a large surplus, or to make a sudden reduc- 
tion of the rates of duties, which would prove ruinous to the 
very interests which were then forcing the passage of the bill. 
Under these views I determined to remain in the chair, and if 
the bill came to me to give my casting vote against it, and in 
doing so, to give my reasons at large ; but at the same time I 
informed my friends that I would retire from the ticket, so that 
the election of General Jackson might not be embarrassed by 
any act of mine. Sir, I was amazed at the folly and infatuation 
of that period. So completely absorbed was Congress in the 
game of ambition and avarice, from the double impulse of the 
manufacturers and politicians, that none but a few appeared to 
anticipate the present crisis, at which now all are alarmed, but 
which is the inevitable result of what was then done. As to 
myself, I clearly foresaw what has since followed. The road of 
ambition lay open before me — T had but to follow the corrupt 
tendency of the times ; but I chose to tread the rugged path of 
duty. 

It was thus that the reasonable hope of relief through the elec- 
tion of General Jackson was blasted ; but still one other hope re- 
mained, that the final discharge of the public debt — an event near 
at hand — would remove our burden. That event would leave in 
the treasury a large surplus; a surplus that could not be ex- 
pended under the most extravagant schemes of appropriation, 
having the least colour of decency or constitutionality. That 
event at last arrived. At the last session of Congress, it was 
avowed on all sides that the public debt, for all practical purposes, 
was in fact paid, the small surplus remaining being nearly co- 
vered by the money in the treasury and the bonds for duties, 
which had already accrued; but with the arrival of this event 
our last hope was doomed to be disappointed. After a long ses- 
sion of many months, and the most earnest effort on the part of 
South Carolina and the other Southern States to obtain relief, all 



THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. 191 

that could be effected was a small reduction in the amount of the 
duties; but a reduction of such a character, that, while it dimi- 
nished the amount of burden, distributed that burden more une- 
qually than even the obnoxious act of 1828 ; reversing the prin- 
ciple adopted by the bill of 1816, of laying higher duties on the 
unprotected than the protected articles, by repealing almost en- 
tirely the duties laid upon the former, and imposing the burden 
almost entirely on the latter. It was thus that, instead of relief, 
instead of an equal distribution of the burdens and benefits of the 
Government, on the payment of the debt, as had been fondly an- 
ticipated — the duties were so arranged as to be, in fact, bounties 
on one side and taxation on the other : thus placing the two great 
sections of the country in direct conflict in reference to its fiscal 
action, and thereby letting in that flood of political corruption 
which threatens to sweep away our Constitution and our liberty. 

This unequal and unjust arrangement was pronounced, both 
by the Administration, through its proper organ, the Secretary of 
the Treasury, and by the Opposition, to be a permanent adjust- 
ment ; and it was thus that all hope of relief through the action 
of the General Government terminated, and the crisis so long ap- 
prehended at length arrived, at which the State was compelled to 
choose between absolute acquiescence in a ruinous system of op- 
pression, or a resort to her reserved powers ; powers of which 
she alone was the rightful judge, and which only, in this momen- 
tous juncture, can save her. She determined on the latter. 

The consent of two-thirds of her Legislature was necessary for 
the call of a convention, which was considered the only legitimate 
organ through which the people, in their sovereignty, could speak. 
After an arduous struggle, the State Right's party succeeded : 
more than two-thirds of both branches of the Lesfislature favour- 
able to a convention were elected ; a convention was called, the 
ordinance adopted. The convention was succeeded by a meeting 
of the Legislature, when the Laws to carry the ordinance into 
execution were enacted : all of which have been communicated 
by the President, have been referred to the Committee on the Ju- 
diciary, and this bill is the result of their labour. 

Having now corrected some of the prominent misrepresenta- 
tions as to the nature of this controversy, and given a rapid 
sketch of the movement of the State in reference to it, I will next 
proceed to notice some objections connected with the ordinance, 
and the proceedings under it. 

The first and most prominent of these is directed against what 
is called the Test Oath, which an effort has been made to render 
odious. So far from deserving the denunciation which has been 



192 THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. 

levelled against it, I view this provision of the ordinance as but 
the natural result of the doctrines entertained by the State, and 
the position which she occupies. The people of that State be- 
lieve that the Union is a union of States, and not of individuals ; 
that it was formed by the States, and that the citizens of the seve- 
ral States were bound to it through the acts of their several 
States ; that each State ratified the Constitution for itself, and that 
it was only by such ratification of a State that any obligation was 
imposed upon the citizens : thus believing, it is the opinion of the 
people of Carolina that it belongs to the State which has imposed 
the obligation to declare, in the last resort, the extent of this obli- 
gation, as far as her citizens are concerned ; and this upon the 
plain principles which exist in all analogous cases of compact be- 
tween sovereign bodies. On this principle the people of the State, 
acting in their sovereign capacity in convention, precisely as they 
adopted their own and the Federal Constitution, have declared by 
the ordinance, that the acts of Congress which imposed duty under 
the authority to lay imposts, are acts not for revenue, as intended 
by the Constitutions, but for protection, and therefore null and 
void. The ordinance thus enacted by the people of the State 
themselves, acting as a sovereign community, is as obligatory on 
the citizens of the State as any portion of the Constitution. In 
prescribing, then, the oath to obey the ordinance, no more was 
done than to prescribe an oath to obey the Constitution. It is, 
in fact, but a particular oath of allegiance, and in every respect 
similar to that which is prescribed under the Constitution of the 
United States, to be administered to all the officers of the State 
and Federal Governments ; and is no more deserving the 
harsh and bitter epithets which have been heaped upon it than 
that or any similar oath. It ought to be borne in mind, that, ac- 
cording to the opinion which prevails in Carolina, the right of 
resistance to the unconstitutional laws of Cono;ress belongs to the 
State, and not to her individual citizens ; and that, though the 
latter may, in a mere question oimeum and ^^<;ww, resist, through 
the courts, an unconstitutional encroachment upon their rights, 
yet the final stand against usurpation rests not with them, but 
with the State of which they are members ; and such act of re- 
sistance by a State binds the conscience and allegiance of the 
citizen. But there appears to be a general misapprehension as 
to the extent to which the State has acted under this part of 
the ordinance. Instead of sweeping every officer by a general 
proscription of the minority, as has been represented in debate, 
as far as my knowledge extends, not a single individual has been 
removed. The State has, in fact, acted with the greatest tender- 



THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. 293 

ness, all circumstances considered, towards citizens who differed 
from the majority ; and, in that spirit, has directed the oath to be 
administered only in cases of some official act directed to be per- 
formed, in which obedience to the ordinance is involved. 

It has been farther objected that the State has acted precipi- 
tately. What ! precipitately ! after making a strenuous resis- 
tance for twelve years ; by discussion here and in the other 
house of Congress ; by essays in all forms ; by resolutions, re- 
monstrances, and protests on the part of her Legislature ; and, 
finally, by attempting an appeal to the judicial power of the 
United States 1 I say attempting, for they have been prevented 
from bringing the question fairly before the court, and that by an 
act of that very majority in Congress who now upbraid them for 
not making that appeal ; of that majority who, on a motion of 
one of the members in the other House, from South Carolina, re- 
fused to give to the act of 1829 its true title, that it was ^ protec- 
tive^ and not a revenue act. The State has never, it is true, 
relied upon that tribunal, the Supreme Court, to vindicate its re- 
served rights ; yet they have always considered it as an auxiliary 
means of defence, of which they would gladly have availed them- 
selves to test the constitutionality of protection, had they not been 
deprived of the means of doing so by the act of the majority. 

Notwithstanding this long delay of more than ten years, under 
this continued encroachment of the Government, we now hear it 
on all sides, by friends and foes, gravely pronounced that the 
State has acted precipitately — -that her conduct has been rash ! 
That such should be the language of an interested majority, who, 
by means of this unconstitutional and oppressive system, are an- 
nually extorting millions from the South to be bestowed upon 
other sections, is not at all surprising. Whatever impedes the 
course of avarice and ambition will ever be denounced as rash 
and precipitate; and had South Carolina delayed her resistance 
fifty instead of twelve years, she would have heard from the 
same quarter the same language; but it is really surprising that 
those who are suffering in common with herself, and who have 
complained equally loud of their grievances, who have pro- 
nounced the very acts which she has asserted within her limits 
to be oppressive, unconstitutional, and ruinous, after so long a 
struggle — a struggle longer than that which preceded the separa- 
tion of these States from the mother country — longer than the 
period of the Trojan war — should now complain of precipitancy ! 
No, it is not Carolina which has acted precipitately ; but her sister 
States, who have suffered in common with her, have acted tardily. 
Had they acted as she has done, had they perfornaed their duty 

13 



194 THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. 

with equal energy and promptness, our situation this day would 
be very different from what we now find it. Delays are said to 
be dangerous ; and never was the maxim more true than in the 
present case, a case of monopoly. It is the very nature of mo- 
nopolies to grow. If we take from one side a large portion of the 
proceeds of iis labour and give it to the other, the side from which 
we take must constantly decay, and that to which we give must 
prosper and increase. Such is the action of the protective sys- 
tem. It exacts from the South a large portion of the proceeds of 
its industry, which it bestows upon the other sections, in the shape 
of bounties to manufactures, and appropriations in a thousand 
forms ; pensions, improvement of rivers and harbours, roads 
and canals, and in every shape that wit or ingenuity can devise. 
Can we, then, be surprised that the principle of monopoly grows, 
when it is so amply remunerated at the expense of those who 
support it? And this is the real reason of the fact which we wit- 
ness, that all acts for protection pass with small minorities, but 
soon come to be sustained by great and overwhelming majorities. 
Those who seek the monopoly endeavour to obtain it in the most 
exclusive shape ; and they take care, accordingly, to associate 
only a sufficient number of interests barely to pass it through the 
two houses of Congress, on the plain principle that the greater 
the number from whom the monopoly takes, and the fewer on 
whom it bestows, the greater is the advantage to the monopolists. 
Acting in this spirit, we have often seen with what exact preci- 
sion they count : adding wool to woollens, associating lead and 
iron, feeling their way, until a bare majority is obtained, when 
the bill passes, connecting just as many interests as are sufficient 
to insure its success, and no more. In a short time, however, 
we have invariably found that this lean becomes a decided majo- 
rity, under the certain operation which compels individuals to 
desert the pursuits which the monopoly has rendered unprofita- 
ble, that they may participate in those pursuits which it has ren- 
dered profitable. It is against this dangerous and growing disease 
that South Carolina has acted ; a disease whose cancerous action 
would soon have spread to every part of the system, if not ar- 
rested. 

There is another powerful reason why the action of the State 
could not have been safely delayed. The public debt, as I have 
already stated, for all practical purposes, has already been paid ; 
and, under the existing duties, a large annual surplus of many 
millions must come into the treasury. It is impossible to look at 
this state of things without seeing the most mischievous conse- 
quences ; and, among others, if not speedily corrected, it would 



THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. I95 

interpose powerful and almost insuperable obstacles to throwing 
off the burden under which the South has been so long labouring. 
The disposition of the surplus would become a subject of violent 
and corrupt struggle, and could not fail to rear up new and 
powerful interests in support of the existing system, not only in 
those sections which have been heretofore benefited by it, but 
even in the South itself I cannot but trace to the anticipation of 
this state of the treasury the sudden and extraordinary move- 
ments which took place at the last session in the Virginia Lems- 
lature, in which the whole South is vitally interested.* It is 
impossible for any rational man to believe that that State could 
seriously have thought of effecting the scheme to which I allude 
by her own resources, without powerful aid from the General 
Government. 

It is next objected that the enforcing acts have legislated the 
United States out of South Carolina. I have already replied to 
this objection on another occasion, and will now but repeat what 
I then said : that they have been legislated out only to the extent 
that they had no right to enter. The Constitution has admitted 
the jurisdiction of the United States within the limits of the several 
States only so far as the delegated powers authorize ,* beyond that 
they are intruders, and may rightfully be expelled; and that they 
have been efficiently expelled by the legislation of the State 
through her civil process, as has been acknowledged on all sides 
in the debate, is only a confirmation of the truth of the doctrine 
for which the majority in Carolina have contended. 

The very point at issue between the two parties there, is, 
whether Nullification is a peaceable and an efficient remedy 
against an unconstitutional act of the General Government, and 
which may be asserted as such through the State tribunals. Both 
parties agree that the acts against which it is directed are uncon- 
stitutional and oppressive. The controversy is only as to the 
means by which our citizens may be protected against the ac- 
knowledged encroachments on their rights. This being the point 
at issue between the parties, and the very object of the majority 
being an efficient protection of the citizens through the State 
tribunals, the measures adopted to enforce the ordinance of 
course received the most decisive character. We were not 
children to act by halves. Yet for acting thus efficiently the 
State is denounced, and this bill reported to overrule, by military 
force, the civil tribunals and civil process of the State ! Sir, 
I consider this bill, and the arguments which have been urged on 

* Having for their object the Emancipation and Colonization of Slaves. 



196 THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. 

this floor in its support, as the most triumphant acknowledg- 
ment that Nullification is peaceful and efficient, and so deeply 
intrenched in the principles of our system, that it cannot be 
assailed but by prostrating the Constitution, and substituting the 
supremacy of military force in lieu of the supremacy of the 
laws. In fact, the advocates of this bill refute their own argu- 
ment. They tell us that the ordinance is unconstitutional ; that 
they infract the Constitution of South Carolina, although to 
me, the objection appears absurd, as it was adopted by the very 
authority which adopted the Constitution itself. They also tell 
us that the Supreme Court is the appointed arbiter of all con- 
troversies between a State and the General Government. Why, 
then, do they not leave this controversy to that tribunal ? 
Why do they not confide to them the abrogation of the 
ordinance, and the laws made in pursuance of it, and the asser- 
tion of that supremacy which they claim for the laws of Con- 
gress? The State stands pledged to resist no process of the 
court. Why, then, confer on the President the extensive and 
unlimited powers provided in this bill? Why authorize him to use 
military force to arrest the civil process of the State? But one 
answer can be given : That, in a contest between the State and 
the General Government, if the resistance be limited on both 
sides to the civil process, the State, by its inherent sovereignty, 
standing upon its reserved powers, will prove too powerful in 
such a controversy, and must triumph over the Federal Govern- 
ment, sustained by its delegated and limited authority ; and in 
this answer we have an acknowledgment of the truth of those 
great principles for which the State has so firmly and nobly con- 
tended. 

Having made these remarks, the great question is now pre- 
sented ; — Has Congress the right to pass this bill?* which I 
will next proceed to consider. The decision of this question in- 
volves the inquiry into the provisions of the bill. What are they ? 
It puts at the disposal of the President the a7"my a?id navy^ and 
the entire militia of the country ; it enables him, at his pleasure, 
to subject every man in the United States, not exempt from 
w^ilitia duty, to ')nartial law : to call him from his ordinary 
occupation to the field, and under the penalty of fine and im- 
prisonment, inflicted by a court martial, to compel him to imbrue 
his hand in his brother''s blood. There is no limitation on the 
power of the sword, and that over the purse is equally without 
restraint; for, among the extraordinary features of the bill, it 

* The Force Bill. 



THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. I97 

contains no appropriation, which, under existing circumstances, 
is tantamount to an unlimited appropriation. The President may, 
under its authority, incur any expenditure, and pledge the national 
faith to meet it. He may create a new national debt, at the very 
moment of the termination of the former — a debt of millions, to 
be paid out of the proceeds of the labour of that section of the 
country whose dearest constitutional rights this hill prostrates ! 
Thus exhibiting the extraordinary spectacle, that the very section 
of the country which is urging this measure, and carrying the 
sword of devastation against us, are, at the same time, incurring 
a new debt, to be paid by those whose rights are violated ; while 
those who violate them are to receive the benefits, in the shape of 
bounties and expenditures. 

And for what purpose is the unlimited control of the purse and 
of the sword thus placed at the disposition of the Executive ? To 
make war against one of the free and sovereio;n members of this 
confederation, which the bill proposes to deal with, not as a State, 
but as a collection of banditti or outlaws. Thus exhibitins; the 
impious spectacle of this Government, the creature of the States, 
making war against the power to which it owes its existence. 

The bill violates the Constitution, plainly and palpably, in 
many of its provisions, by authorizing the President, at his plea- 
sure, to place the different ports of this Union on an equal footing, 
contrary to that provision of the Constitution which declares that 
no preference shall be given to one port over another. It also 
violates the Constitution by authorizing him, at his discretion, to 
impose cash duties on one port while credit is allowed in others ; 
by enabling the President to regulate commerce, a power vested 
in Congress alone; and by drawing within the jurisdiction of the 
United States' courts, powers never intended to be conferred on them. 
As great as these objections are, they become insignificant in the 
provisions of a bill which, by a single blow, by treating the 
States as a mere lawless mass of individuals, prostrates all the 
barriers of the Constitution. I will pass over the minor con- 
siderations, and proceed directly to the great point. This bill 
proceeds on the ground that the entire sovereignty of this country 
belongs to the American people, as forming one great community, 
and regards the States as mere fractions or counties, and not as 
an integral part of the Union ; having no more right to resist the 
encroachments of the Government than a county has to resist the 
authority of a State: and treating such resistance as the lawless 
acts of so many individuals, without possessing sovereignty or 
political rights. It has been said that the bill declares war 
against South Carolina. No. It decrees a massacre of her 



X98 THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. 

citizens ! War has something ennobling about it, and, with all 
its horrors, brings into action the highest qualities, intellectual 
and moral. It was, perhaps, in the order of Providence that it 
should be permitted for that very purpose. But this bill declares 
no war, except, indeed, it be that which savages wage ; a war, not 
against the community, but the citizens of whom that community 
is composed. But I regard it as worse than savage warfare — as 
an attempt to take away life under the colour of law, without the 
trial by jury, or any other safeguard which the Constitution has 
thrown around the life of the citizen ! It authorizes the President, 
or even his deputies, when they may suppose the law to be 
violated, without the intervention of a court or jury, to kill 
without mercy or discrimination ! 

It has been said by the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Grundy) 
to be a measure of peace ! Yes, such peace as the wolf gives to 
the Iamb — the kite to the dove ! Such peace as Russia gives to 
Poland, or death to its victim ! A peace, by extinguishing the 
political existence of the State, by awing her into an abandon- 
ment of the exercise of every power which constitutes her a sove- 
reign community. It is to South Carolina a question of self- 
preservation ; and I proclain it, that, should this bill pass, and 
an attempt be made to enforce it, it will be resisted, at every 
hazard — even that of death itself. Death is not the greatest ca- 
lamity ; there are others still more terrible to the free and brave, 
and among them may be placed the loss of liberty and honour. 
There are thousands of her brave sons who, if need be, are pre- 
pared cheerfully to lay down their lives in defence of the State, 
and the great principles of constitutional liberty for which she is 
contending. God forbid that this should become necessary ! It 
never can be, unless this Government is resolved to bring the 
question to extremity, when her gallant sons will stand prepared 
to perform the last duty — to die nobly. 



EXTRACT FROM SPEECH IN SUPPORT OF THE VETO POWER. 

28th February, 1842. 

Let me not be misunderstood. I object not to that structure 
of the Government which makes the numerical majority the pre- 
dominant element : it is, perhaps, necessary that it should be so 



THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. 199 

in all popular Constitutional Governments like ours, which ex- 
cludes classes. It is necessarily the exponent of the strongest 
interest, or combination of interests, in the community ; and it 
would seem to be necessary to give it the preponderance, in order 
to infuse into the Government the necessary energy to accom- 
plish the ends for which it was instituted. The great question 
is ; — How is due preponderance to be given to it, without sub- 
jecting the whole, in time, to its unlimited sway? Which brings 
up the question ; — Is there any where in our complex system of 
government, a guard, check, or contrivance, sufficiently strong 
to arrest so fearful a tendency of the Government ? Or, to ex- 
press it in m,ore direct and intelligible language ; — Is there any 
where in the system a more full and perfect expression of the 
voice of the people of the States, calculated to counteract this 
tendency, to the concentration of all the powers of the govern- 
ment in the will of the numerical majority, resulting from the 
partial and imperfect expression of their voice through its organs ? 

Yes, fortunately, doubly fortunately, there is ; not only a more 
full and perfect, but a full and perfect expression to be found in 
the Constitution, acknowledged by all to be the fundamental and 
supreme law of the land. It is full and perfect, because it is the 
expression of the voice of each State, adopted by the separate 
assent of each, by itself, and for itself; and is the voice of all, by 
being that of each component part, united and blended into one 
harmonious whole. But it is not only full and perfect, but as 
just as it is full and perfect; for, combining the sense of each, 
and therefore all, there is nothing left on which injustice, or op- 
pression, or usurpation can operate. And, finally, it is as su- 
preme as it is just ; because, comprehending the will of all, by 
uniting that of each of the parts, there is nothing within or above 
to control it. It is, indeed, the vox pojmli vox Dei — the crea- 
ting voice that called the system into existence, and of which the 
Government itself is but a creature, clothed wilh delegated 
powers to execute its high behests. 

We are thus brought to a question of the deepest import, and 
on which the fate of the system depends. How can this full, 
perfect, just, and supreme voice of the people, embodied in the 
Constitution, be brought to bear habitually and steadily in coun- 
teracting the fatal tendency of the Government to the absolute 
and despotic control of the numerical majority ? Or, if I may 
be permitted to use so bold an expression ; — How is this, the 
deity of our political system, to be successfully invoked, to inter- 
pose its all-powerful creating voice to save from perdition the 
creature of its will and the work of its hand ? If it cannot be 



200 THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. 

done, ours, like all free governments preceding it, must go the 
way of all flesh ; but if it can be, its duration may be from gene- 
ration to generation, to the latest posterity. To this all-impor- 
tant question I will not attempt a reply at this time. It would 
lead me far beyond the limits properly belonging to this discus- 

• 41- ^ iJt -It ^f- ^ :¥r at ^ 

Let me add, in conclusion, that this is a question, in its bear- 
ings, of vital importance to that wonderful and sublime system of 
government which our patriotic ancestors established, not so much 
by their wisdom, wise and experienced as they were, as by the 
guidance of a kind Providence, who, in his divine dispensations, 
so disposed events as to lead to the establishment of a system of 
Government wiser than those who framed it. The Veto of itself, 
as important as it is, sinks into nothing compared to the principle 
involved. It is but one, and that by no means the most consi- 
derable, of those many devices which I have attempted to explain, 
and which were intended to strengthen the popular basis of our 
government, and resist its tendency to fall under the control of 
the dominant interest, acting through the mere numerical majo- 
rity. The introduction of this resolution may be regarded as one 
of the many symptoms of that fatal tendency, and of which we 
had such fearful indications in the bold attempt of the late extra- 
ordinary session, of forcing through a whole system of measures 
of the most threatening and alarming character, in the space of a 
few weeks, on the ground that they were all decided in the elec- 
tion of the late President ; thus attempting to substitute the will 
of a majority of the people, in the choice of a Chief Magistrate, 
as the legislative authority of the Union, in lieu of the beautiful 
and profound system established by the Constitution. 



EXTRACT FROM SPEECH ON THE WAR AGAINST GREAT 

BRITAIN, 1814. 

" This country is left alone to support the rights of neutrals. 
Perilous is the condition, and arduous the task. Wc are not 
intimidated. We stand opposed to British usurpation, and by our 
spirit and efforts, have done all in our power to save the last ves- 
tiges of neutral rights. Yes, our embargoes, non-intercourse, 
non-importation, and, finally, war, are all manly exertions to 
preserve the rights of this and other nations from the deadly grasp 
of British maritime policy. But (say our opponents) these efforts 
are lost, and our condition hopeless. If so, it only remains for 



THE HOJ\. J. C. CALHOUN. 201 

US to assume the garb of our condition. We must submit, hum- 
bly submit, crave pardon, and hug our chains. It is not wise to 
provolvc where we cannot resist. But first let us be well assured 
of the hopelessness of our state before we sink into submission. 
On what do our opponents rest their despondent and slavish be- 
lief? On the recent events in Europe ? I admit they are great, 
and well calculated to impose on the imagination. Our enemy 
never presented a more imposing exterior. His fortune is at the 
flood. But I am admonished by universal experience, that such 
prosperity is the most precarious of human conditions. From the 
flood the tide dates its ebb. From the meridian the sun com- 
mences his decline. Depend upon it, there is more of sound phi- 
losophy than of fiction in the fickleness which poets attribute to 
fortune. Prosperity has its weakness, adversity its strength. In 
many respects our enemy has lost by those very changes which 
seem so very much in his favour. He can no more claim to be 
strussHns for existence ; no more to be fis^htinof the battles of the 
world in defence of the liberties of mankind. The magic cry of 
' French influence' is lost. In this very hall we are not strangers 
to that sound. Here, even here, the cry of ' French influence,' 
that baseless fiction, that phantom of faction now banished, often 
resounded. 1 rejoice that the spell is broken by which it was at- 
tempted to bind the spirit of this youthful nation. The minority 
can no longer act under cover, but must come out and defend 
their opposition on its own intrinsic merits. Our example can 
scarcely fail to produce its effects on other nations interested in 
the maintenance of maritime rights. But if, unfortunately, we 
should be left alone to maintain the contest, and if, which may 
God forbid, necessity should compel us to yield for the present, 
yet our generous efforts will not have been lost. A mode of 
thinking and a tone of sentiment have gone abroad which must 
stimulate to future and more successful struggles. What could 
not be effected with eight millions of people will be done with 
twenty. The great cause will never be yielded ; no, never, 
never ! Sir, I hear the future audibly announced in the past — in 
the splendid victories over the Guerriere, Java, and Macedonian. 
We, and all nations, by these victories, are taught a lesson never 
to be forgotten. Opinion is power. The charm of British naval 
invincibility is gone." 



HENRY CLAY. 



Such as was George Washington at Mount Vernon, retired 
from the scenes of public excitement and service, such is Henry 
Clay at Ashland. I had seen Calhoun at Washington in the 
early spring of 1846, calm amidst the strife and hurry of political 
warfare ; I saw Henry Clay in the May following in Kentucky, 
serene in " the mild majesty of private life." Side by side 
these illustrious Americans had, for many years, proceeded in 
their separate courses; their ages not far dissimilar; their cha- 
racters strongly contrasted ; their politics invariably opposed, 
their various powers equally, though with different views, ar- 
dently devoted to the service of their country. Each spoke of 
the other with high esteem, and each inquired with earnest soli- 
citude if health and cheerfulness were still the portion of his ad- 
mired rival. Many sympathies, indeed, had bound them to- 
gether ; each had rejoiced with the same triumph in the happi- 
ness of the Republic; each had partaken of the same exalted 
anguish in her ditiiculties. Clay and Calhoun are the master 
SPIRITS of America. 

Mr. Clay is the most popular man in the United States ; his 
very name is a spell, and no sooner is it heard than all mankind 
rise up to praise it; nor all mankind only — but all womankind; 
for, as in England, ladies par inetier are Conservatives, so they 
are in America, for the same reasons, doubtless, generally at- 
tached to the Whig standard; a lovely and graceful ornament, 
the ladies of America are the chaplet of roses in which is 
wreathed the name of Henry Clay. " You cannot go back to 
your country without going to Ashland." " You never heard 
such a voice, you never knew such a man in England, as our 
Mr. Clay." All the children born in 1845-6, are, I believe, 
called after him ; there is a little generation of two year old 
Henry Clays. Some ladies at Ithaca had lavished upon me 
every sort of hospitality and kindness. " How," said I on part- 
ing, "shall I repay you for so much goodness?" "You are 
going to see Mr. Clay, ask him for an autograph, and send it to 



HENRY CLAY. 208 

US ; you will have done much more for us than we have done for 
you." I mentioned my pledge to Mr. Clay, who at once re- 
deemed it, and with interest; adding besides, on the same page, 
a most graceful message to my husband and myself. I have 
seen men of firm and manly minds weep at the recollection of 
Mr. Clay's defeat. If it Avere possible, that circumstance has in- 
creased his popularity, and has won for him the most universal 
and extraordinary attachment throughout the Union, that proba- 
bly ever fell to the lot of any man, except the revered Washing- 
ton. His character, manners, appearance, voice, nay, even his 
dress, have been minutely described to me long before I saw him; 
every anecdote of his life is public property ; his house, his farm, 
his domestic circle, all belong to society at large, to the country, 
I might say ; and many could relate a few words or syllables 
uttered to them or their friends, or perhaps to indifferent persons, 
which they had, by some fortunate chance, caught as they fell 
from his honied lips. Thus prepared, we arrived late one even- 
iniz: at Lexino;ton, and were ushered into a parlour at the hotel, 
on the door of which was painted Henry Clay ; it had been his 
committee room during the election. I scarcely slept for impa- 
tience ; and as early as propriety would permit, the next morn- 
ing the Doctor and I entered a carriao-e, and set off for Ashland. 
" We carry visiters there. Madam, every day, at all hours," said 
the host ; on the road, I had a thousand fears, Mr. Clay might 
be occupied, might be absent, might be ill ; the way (a mile and 
a half,) seemed interminable. I had no time to observe the far- 
famed landscape beauty of Kentucky ; I was going to see " the 
foremost man of all the world ;" to visit him of whom my hus- 
band had said, — "T shall esteem your mission unfulfilled if you 
return to me without having seen Mr. Clay." I never answered 
the various queries of the Doctor, so utterly absorbed was I in 
the purpose of my destination. At length we arrived ; a carriage 
stood before the steps, — my anxiety increased, — he must be en- 
gaged, — we knocked at the door, and were saluted as old friends 
by the faithful negro, who opened it. " Master tvas at home, — 
was not engaged, — icoidd be happy to see iis.^^ In a moment 
Mr. Clay appeared, and with that voice of surprising and sur- 
passing melody, with winning smile, and open hands, himself 
tendered to us the courtesies of welcome. Assisting me to 
alight, he accompanied us to the sitting-room, and read the intro- 
ductory letters that I had brought him. Here, five and twenty 
years before, my husband had been his guest ; here, five and 
twenty years ago he had imbibed, and been confirmed in those 
principles of American politics which, Free Trade alone excepted, 



204 HENRY CLAY. 

have since formed the articles of his unchanseable creed. Thus 
are we a divided house, — and yet a united one. We both serve 
Clay and Calhoun, regarding them not as the men of a State, a 
section, or a party, but as Americans, free of thought, and pure 
in heart. Quickly Mr. Clay spoke of all that I loved and re- 
vered ; many of Mr. Maury's family were familiarly known to 
him ; his son Henry had married one of our relatives ; and my 
father-in-law, the venerable James Maury, of Liverpool, pos- 
sessed his highest esteem. "You have about five thousand rela- 
tions in Virginia and Kentucky," observed he, laughing ; " are 
you going to see them all 1 I have known many of them, and 
they are all endorsed with virtue." These words I have trea- 
sured as an armorial motto for my sons. We spoke of affairs 
public and private, the past, the present, and the future ; freely 
and fearlessly I spoke with this great man, as with other illus- 
trious Americans, and he conversed with me freely and indul- 
gently, forgetful of my sex and inferiority. 

" What can I do for vou?" 

" Nothing, but to suffer me to be with you as much as 
possible." 

" That you shall be." 

And charming were these hours, for we were of his family and 
of his household. The little Doctor was wild with spirits, and 
never knows which to prefer, his visit to Ashland or to Kinder- 
hook ; they were the choicest days he spent in America. And 
I sat, and talked, and listened, between Mr. and Mrs. Clay ; and 
when many were present, " Take him," said she, *' into the 
garden, and talk with him there, for I know you wish it, and I 
will trust him with you." And into the garden we went, and 
Mr. Clay pointed out to me the trees that his own hands had 
planted, cut for me every flower I looked upon or touched, con- 
ducted me to see his stock of cattle, of which he seemed very 
proud, and pointed out his pets ; showed me the direction in which 
his farm extended, and explained many of his agricultural views. 
The flowers, roses red, and white, and yellow, amaranth, magnolia 
and others, are all preserved ; they are laid in a cedar box with 
those from Kinderhook, and a rose-bud given to me by Mrs. 
Madison with her farewell kiss. 

In the garden during our walk, Mr. Clay in conversation 
alluded to his own health and present enjoyment of life. " I 
have not been so thoroughly well," said he, " so cheerful, so 
composed, for many years as during the last eighteen months." 

In speaking of the state of parties, he alluded to the Presidential 
Election once or twice, en jjassant, as that " event so unexpected 



HENRY CLAY. 205 

by us all," that "untoward circumstance," or in terms to that 
effect ; wholly free from passion or from prejudice. " Some- 
times," said he, and with solemnity, " I am led to think of the 
future prospects of the country with apprehension." And here 
he stopped, and turning towards me, added in the most impressive 
manner, and with a voice of affecting tenderness, and eyes raised 
to Heaven, " And yet, and yet, why should I despair? Providence 
has so many ways of saving nations." 

I experienced myself a remarkable proof of the influence of 
the name and character of Mr. Clay. During my voyage to 
America I had witnessed the distressino; effects arising from the 
want of medical attendance on board ship, and both myself and 
son had suffered from the small-pox. I made an attempt to pass 
a Bill through Congress to compel Passenger Vessels to carry 
Surgeons. The Bill was frustrated by the blind and ignorant 
selfishness of the shipowners, who were represented by a Whig 
Member of Congress for New Bedford, in the Committee of 
Commerce in the House of Representatives. Upon learning 
that the Committee might bring in a majority report against the 
Bill, I requested an interview with my opponent from New 
England, who alleged various reasons for his opposition. He 
first endeavoured to persuade me that I had " never had the 
small-pox ! that it was some other complaint !" Fortunately for 
my veracity, there is one small mark on my forehead which all 
medical men would recognise as small-pox. Next, he said, that 
the ship captains were the most efficient medical practitioners 
imaginable ; in fact, that a sea-faring life is the best possible 
education for doctors and surgeons. Then he resorted to the 
miserable personality of saying, that the Americans were very 
glad to see me as a guest, but that they would not allow me to 
mingle in the Councils of the country. To which I replied, 
" That the Americans were too generous to regard the means 
where the end was good, or to despise the instrument where the 
intention was useful." At length he had recourse to Congress, 
and gravely assured me, "that Congress had no power to legis- 
late on the subject." " And whose authority, pray, sir," said I, 
" will you accept for that ? For Judge M'Lean, and Mr. Buchanan, 
and Henry Clay, have all assured me that Congress has full 
control over the whole question." " Oh !" said the Honourable 
Member, " they only told you so, in order to satisfy and get quit 
ofyouP " And how, sir," rejoined I, " how dare you say that 
such men as these could commit themselves to a legal opinion 
merely to get quit of a woman ? And, besides, they love me ; 
they do not wish to get quit of me. From Buchanan I receive 



206 HENRY CLAY. 

daily proofs of regard ; to him I am ever a welcome guest. I 
have just passed ten days at Cincinnati, where I was in the care 
of Judge M'Lean ; and I have but now returned from Ashland, 
where I received from Henry Clay each courteous act of kindness ; 
he esteemed my father-in-law, and my husband, and to me and 
all my family his friendship has been solid and unceasing." I 
saw the chord which I had struck, for, at the first mention of 
Mr. Clay's name, my Whig opponent betrayed some awkward- 
ness, and I had the malice to trifle with his susceptibilities. 
" And," pursued I, apparently unconscious of these sufferings, 
*' Mr. Clay approved of my suggestion as an act of humanity, 
and would have rejoiced in the success of my Bill." And, at 
this, the Honourable Member looked (in vulgar parlance,) 7iine 
tcays at once ; and when I said '' that I should see each Member 
of the Committee of Commerce, and that Buchanan had given his 
consent that I should do so," he burst forth with obsequious 
deference and said, " Perhaps, Madam, you would wish to see 
these gentlemen when they are assembled in Committee to- 
morrow." 

" If jrou please," rejoined I, " the time and place ? And you 
will, perhaps, have the kindness to introduce me V 

" Assuredly. They meet in the Committee Room, in the 
Capitol, at ten in the morning." 

" At ten in the morning I will be there." 

I shall never forget the countenance of the Honourable Mem- 
ber from New Bedford during this most extraordinary conversa- 
tion, while I, wickedly, prolonged his torment, by dwelling on 
the name of Mr. Clay. 

I cannot dismiss this anecdote without observing that I have 
travelled sixteen thousand miles in the United States, and re- 
sided among her citizens nearly fifteen months, have mingled in 
every description of society, and have this single instance alone 
to record of want of courtesy. This Honourable Member from 
New England is the one solitary American who possesses the 
peculiar distinction of ever having treated myself or my son 
with the shadow of rudeness. 

" Free Trade," said Mr. Clay, " is the true policy of England, 
and she is perfectly right to insist upon it. In her position I 
should do so too." 

" Then all in which you differ from Mr. Calhoun is time and 
circuin&tance V 

" Is time and circumstance," answered he. 

" He thinks that America is ready ; you do not ?" 

" Precisely so," 



HENRY CLAY. 207 

" My opinions on the Annexation of Texas keep me at home in 
Kentucky." 

Mr. Clay is a Slaveholder. On the subject of Slavery, his 
opinions and wishes are in favour of gradual Emancipation, 
chiefly by means of Colonization. 

The following correspondence between Bolivar and Mr. Clay, 
is full of interest; while it exhibits the unwearied and benevolent 
efforts of the latter in the cause of Universal Freedom, it proves 
that no flattery can blind, no deceptive arts escape him : — 

" Bogota, November 21, 1827. 

" Sir, — T cannot omit availing myself of the opportunity 
offered me by the departure of Colonel Watts, Charge, d' Affaires 
of the United States, of taking the liberty of addressing your Ex- 
cellency. This desire has long been entertained by me, for the 
purpose of expressing my admiration of your Excellency's bril- 
liant talents and ardent love of liberty. All America, Colombia, 
and myself, owe your Excellency our purest gratitude for the in- 
comparable services you have rendered to us, by sustaining our 
course with a sublime enthusiasm. Accept, therefore, this sin- 
cere and cordial testimony, which I hasten to offer to your Ex- 
cellency, and to the Government of the United States, who have 
so greatly contributed to the Emancipation of your Southern 
brethren. 

" I have the honour to offer to your Excellency my distin- 
guished consideration. 

" Your Excellency's obedient servant, 

" Bolivar." 

(reply.) 

" Washington, Octoher 27, 1828. 

" Sir, — It is very gratifying to me to be assured directly by 
your Excellency, that the course which the Government of the 
United States took, on this memorable occasion, and my humble 
efforts have excited the gratitude, and commanded the approba 
tion of your Excellency. I am persuaded that I do not misin 
terpret the feelings of the people of the Uniied States, as I cer 
tainly express my own, in saying, that the interest which was in 
spired in this country by the arduous struggles of South America 
arose principally from the hope^ that, along ivith its independence 
ivould be established free institutions, insuring all the blessings 
of civil liberty. To the accomplishment of that object ice still 



208 HENRY CLAY. 

anxiously look. We are aware that great difficulties oppose it, 
among which not the least is that which arises out of the exis- 
tence of a large military force, raised for the purpose of resisting 
the power of Spain. Standing armies, organized with the most 
patriotic intentions, are dangerous instruments. They devour the 
substance, debauch the morals, and too often destroy the liberties 
of the people. Nothing can be more perilous or unwise than to 
retain them after the necessity has ceased which led to their for- 
mation, especially if their numbers are disproportionate to the 
revenues of the State. 

" But, notwithstanding all these difficulties, we had fondly 
cherished, and still indulge the hope, that South America would 
add a new triumph to the cause of human liberty ; and that Pro- 
vidence would bless her, as he had her Northern sister, with the 
genius of some great and virtuous man to conduct her securely 
throuo'h all her trials. We had even flattered ourselves that we 
beheld that genius in your Excellency. But I should be unworthy 
of the consideration with which your Excellency honours me, 
and deviate from the frankness which I have ever endeavoured 
to practise, if I did 7iot 07i this occasio7i state^ that ambitious 
designs have been attributed by your enemies to your Excellency 
ivhich have created in my inifid great solicitude. They have 
cited late events in Colombia as proofs of these designs. But, 
slow in the withdrawal of confidence which I have once given, I 
have been most unwilling to credit the unfavourable accounts 
which have from time to time reached me. I cannot allow my- 
self to believe that your Excellency will abandon the bright and 
glorious path which lies plainly before you, for the bloody road 
passing over the liberties of the human race, on which the vulgar 
crowds of tyrants and military despots have so often trodden. I 
will not doubt that your Excellency will, in due time, render a 
satisfactory explanation to Colombia and the world, of the parts 
of your public conduct which have excited any distrust ; and that, 
preferring the true glory of our immortal Washington to the 
ignoble fame of the destroyers of liberty, you have formed the 
patriotic resolution of ultimately placing the freedom of Colombia 
upon a firm and sure foundation. That your efibrts to that end 
may be crowned vvith complete success, I most fervently pray. 

" I request that your Excellency will accept assurances of my 
sincere wishes for your happiness and prosperity. 

" H. Clay." 

" Mr. Clay, which of your public speeches do you consider the 
most effective and powerful ?" 



HENRY CLAY. 209 

" There is a portion of the Speech on the Veto of Mr. Tyler, 
on the Bank Bill, in reply to Mr. Rives, which produced the most 
electrifying effect of any thing T ever uttered. The immediate 
subject was Patriotism. Nature," added he, smiling, " had sin- 
gularly favoured me by giving me a voice peculiarly adapted to 
produce the impressions I wished in public speaking ; now," said 
he, " its melody is changed, its music gone !" (And this was 
said as if in mockery, in sounds of exquisite sweetness.) The 
effects of his manner and utterance in the Senate, were most 
striking. 

But when he speaks, what elocution flows, 
Soil as the fleeces of descending snows ; 
The copious accents fall with easy art, 
Melting they fall, and sink into the heart. 

" I shall be happy if yourself and son will accompany us to 
Church to-morrow. It is our general practice to attend." 

The next morning we proceeded, in Mr. Clay's carriage, to the 
Episcopal Church. Being some minutes before the time of ser- 
vice, Mrs. Clay and I conversed in gentle whispers. " Con- 
sidering all," said she, "Mr. Clay's health is singularly good, 
and his spirits cheerful; for we have been sorely afflicted ; we 
have had eleven children, and of six daughters, not one has been 
spared to us ; two died in infancy, two in the first years of youth, 
and two in married life. The last, indeed, was one that parents 
well might be proud of; Mr. Clay lias never recovered her loss. 
You have the same number that once filled our household ; may 
you be more favoured than we have been, and keep them all." 

During the service, Mr. Clay leaned his face down upon his 
hands, which rested on his stick, in the attitude in which he has 
been painted. He almost constantly carried in his hand a full- 
blown rose, with a short stem, and frequently addressed himself 
to its perfumed cup. I, too, am a passionate lover of the fra- 
grance of flowers. 

On our return to Ashland, the members of Mr. Clay's family, 
residing in the neighbourhood, had all assembled at the parent 
house ; an infant grand-daughter, his very image, with light blue 
eyes, and bright complexion, climbed upon his knee when he sat 
down, and thence ascended to his shoulder, and put her arm 
around his neck, and played with his hair, and kissed his head 
and face all over. And when he walked, she clasped his knees ; 
and he called her " Sophy," in the softest accents ever heard, and 
she ran away in childish playfulness, so to be called again. 

And now the hour of parting had arrived ; and we took leave 

14 



210 HENRY CLAY. 

of this attractive group. Mr. Clay handed me to the carriage ; 
and, holding both my hands in the strong grasp of friendship, 
" Let us trust," said he, " that we may meet again, either here 
or elsewhere ; and send those boys of yours to St. Louis, and let 
them come to me, and I will do all I can for them ; and God in 
Heaven bless you." Such were his farewell words, and still they 
linger on my ear, and still they dwell in my heart. 

As the carriage swept through the trees, I turned to look 
once more at Ashland, and Henry Clay still stood upon the 

threshold — — — 

* * # * * 

This illustrious American was born April 12, 1777, in Han- 
over County, Virginia, in a neighbourhood called " The Slashes" 
(a swamp). 

" The millboy of the Slashes," a name which has kindled so 
much sentiment in the bosoms of the American people, and the 
mimicry of which constituted a part of every public political pa- 
geant of the Whig party in the Presidential campaign of 1844, 
and which will still be poetic when the generation which first felt 
its power shall have passed away — which, indeed, will never 
cease to be so, while poetry is natural to man — had its founda- 
tion in the filial and fraternal duty of Henry Clay, who after he 
was big enough, was seen, whenever the meal barrel was low, 
going to and fro on the road between his mother's house and Mrs. 
Darricott's mill, on the Pamunkey river, mounted on a bag that 
was thrown across a pony that was guided by a rope bridle ; and 
thus he became familiarly known, by the people living on the line 
of his travel, as "The millboy of the Slashes." 

The following extract from his early history is given in his 
own words : — 

" In looking back upon my origin and progress through life, I 
have great reason to be thankful. My father died in 1781, leav- 
ing me an infant of too tender years to retain any recollection of 
his smiles or endearments. My surviving parent removed to this 
State in 1792, leaving me, a boy of fifteen years of age, in the 
office of the High Court of Chancery, in the city of Richmond, 
without guardian, without pecuniary means of support, to steer 
my course as I might or could. A neglected education was im- 
proved by my own irregular exertions, without the benefit of sys- 
tematic instruction. I studied law principally in the office of a 
lamented friend, the late Governor Brooke, then Attorney-Gene- 
ral of Virginia, and also under the auspices of the venerable and 
lamented Chancellor Wythe, for whom I had acted as amanu- 
ensis. I obtained a license to practise the profession from the 



HENRY CLAY. 21 1 

Judges of the Court of Appeals of Virginia, and established my- 
self in Lexington, in 1797, without patrons, without the favour 
or countenance of the great or opulent, without the means of pay- 
ing my weekly board, and in the midst of a bar uncommonly 
distinguished by eminent members. I remember how comfort- 
able I thought I should be if I could make one hundred pounds, 
Virginia money, per year, and with what delight 1 received the 
first fifteen shillings fee. My hopes were more than realized. I 
immediately rushed into a successful and lucrative practice." 

Mr. Clay, whenever disengaged from public duties, practised 
the law with distinguished success ; it is said that no client, in 
peril of life, ever addressed himself to the zeal and abilities of this 
unwearied advocate without being saved. 

Early in life Mr. Clay became a Statesman, and his familia- 
rity with public events, at periods of great national excitement, 
chastened his ardent character, and expanded his judgment. The 
conciliatory spirit of this able leader has, on various occasions, 
been eminently useful in calming the panics of the country, and 
in pouring oil upon the troubled waters of her Councils. 

Mr. Clay was one of the five Commissioners sent to Ghent, in 
1814 : he was attached to the war party. 

Coinciding without reserve, as I do, with Mr. Calhoun, in the 
grand doctrine of Nullification, I still behold the patriotic etforts 
of Mr. Clay to produce a Compromise, and thus to restore the in- 
ternal peace of the country, with the highest admiration. 

" I rise on this occasion," said Mr. Clay in the Senate, " ac- 
tuated by no motives of a private nature, by no personal feelings, 
and for no personal objects ; but exclusively in obedience to a 
sense of the duty which I owe to my country — I am anxious to 
find out some principle of mutual accommodation, to satisfy, as 
far as practicable, both parties. As I stand before my God, I 
declare, I have looked beyond those considerations (party feel- 
ings and party causes), and regarded only the vast interests of 
this whole people. If I had thought of myself, I should never 
have brought it (the bill) forward. I know well the perils to 
which I expose myself. I might have silently gazed on the 
raging storm, enjoyed its thunders, and left those who are charg- 
ed with the Vessel of State to conduct it as they could. Pass 
this bill, tranquillize the country, restore confidence and affection 
in the Union, and I am willing to go home to Ashland, and re- 
nounce public service for ever. I have been accused of ambition. 
Yes, 1 have ambition ; but it is the ambition of being the humble 
instrument in the hands of Providence to reconcile a divided peo- 
ple — once more to revive concord and harmony in a distracted 



212 HENRY CLAY. 

land — the pleasing ambition of contemplating the glorious spec- 
tacle of a free, united, prosperous, and fraternal people. I say. 
Save the Country, save the Union, save the American 
System." 

On the Missouri question, which arose when the Territory of 
Missouri, in 1818, asserted its claim to be incorporated as a 
State; and which question threatened the Union with convulsion, 
Mr. Clay came forward with the resolutions which harmonized 
the conflicting parties. The Territory claimed to be received as 
a State on the same footing with other Slaveholding States, it 
was objected to this that the compromise of the Federal Constitu- 
tion, regarding Slavery, respected only its limits at the time ; 
and that it was most remote from the views of the parties to this 
arrangement, to have the domain of Slavery extended on that 
basis. 

The opposition which the people of Missouri had encountered 
had roused their anger; they inserted a clause in their Constitu- 
tion which was most obnoxious to the rest of the Union. It ran 
as follows : — • 

" It shall be the duty of the General Assembly, as soon as 
may be, to pass such laws as may be necessary to prevent free 
negroes and niulattoes from coming to or settling in this State^ 
under any pretext whatsoever." 

On the 10th of February, Mr. Clay reported and submitted 
the foUowinsj resolution : — 

" Resolved, — That the State of Missouri be admitted into the 
Union on an equal footing with the original States, in all respects 
whatever, upon the fundamental condition, that the said State 
shall never pass any law preventing any description of persons 
from coming to and settling in the said State, who now are, or 
may hereafter become, citizens of any of the States of this 
Union." 

The Compromise was founded on this Resolution, and was 
mainly effected by the temper, sagacity, and indefatigable zeal of 
Mr. Clay. 

Thus on these two important, as well as on other minor 
occasions, has Mr. Clay fulfilled the Christian behest of Media- 
tion ; his justice respected the rights of all parties, and his wisdom 
knew how to satisfy them. 

Mr. Clay is tall and of muscular frame; walks firmly, and 
looks as if he rejoiced in healthful vigorous exercise; he is nearly 
seventy years old, but I have seen many men of fifty show more of 
age than the Statesman farmer of Kentucky. His eye is not 
large, but bright ; his forehead high and broad ; his mouth is 



HENRY CLAY. 213 

large and wide, and firmly compressed ; the pictures of Mr. Clay 
are provoking in their dissimilitude; the painter's usually flatter- 
ing art has never done him even common justice ; his limners 
have painted only the earthly, not the heavenly, Clay. 

Mr. Clay was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives 
of the United States seven times. He was Secretary of State 
during the Presidency of Mr. Adams, and on the close of that 
Administration, remained in private life two years. In 1831 he 
was elected to the United States Senate, where he held his seat 
till 1842, having spent forty years, save one, in the public ser- 
vice. 

It may be desirable to remark that the application of the Eng- 
lish term of Whig was first assumed, in the United States, by 
the Opposition to the principles and Administration of General 
Jackson. By degrees, in consequence of the ever-varying modi- 
fication of party denominations, this term has now become ex- 
clusively appropriated to the system of politics of which Mr. 
Clay is the acknowledged representative. 

The following beautiful extracts are taken from Mr. Clay's 
Farewell Address to the Senate, in 1842 : — 

" Full of attraction, however, as a seat in the Senate is, suffi- 
cient as it is to satisfy the aspirations of the most ambitious heart, 
I have long determined to relinquish it, and to seek that repose 
which can be enjoyed only in the shades of private life, in the 
circle of one's own family, and in the tranquil enjoyments in- 
cluded in one enchanting word — home. 

" I emigrated from Virginia to the State of Kentucky now 
nearly forty-five years ago ; I went as an orphan boy who had 
not yet attained the age of majority ; who had never recognised 
a father's smile, nor felt his warm caresses; poor, penniless, 
without the favour of the great ; with an imperfect and neglected 
education, hardly sufficient for the ordinary business and common 
pursuits of life ; but scarce had I set my foot upon her generous 
soil when I was embraced with parental fondness, caressed as 
though I had been a favourite child, and patronised with liberal 
and unbounded munificence. From that period the highest ho- 
nours of the State have been freely bestowed upon me ; and when, 
in the darkest hour of calumny and detraction, I seemed to be 
assailed by all the rest of the world, she inter|)osed her broad 
and impenetrable shield, repelled the poisoned shafts that were 
aimed for my destruction, and vindicated my good name from 
every malignant and unfounded aspersion. I return with inde- 
scribable pleasure to linger a while longer, and mingle with the 
warm-hearted and whole-souled people of that State ; and, when 



214 HENRY CLAY. 

the last scene shall for ever close upon me, I hope that my 
earthly remains will be laid under her green sod with those of 
her gallant and patriotic sons. 

" That my nature is warm, my temper ardent, my disposition, 
especially in relation to the public service, enthusiastic, I am 
ready to own ; and those who suppose that I have been assuming 
the dictatorship, have only mistaken for arrogance or assumption 
that ardour and devotion which are natural to my constitution, 
and which 1 may have displayed with too little regard to cold, 
calculating, and cautious prudence, in sustaining and zealously 
supporting important national measures of policy which I have 
presented and espoused. 

" In the course of a long and arduous public service, espe- 
cially during the last eleven years in which I have held a seat 
in the Senate, from the same ardour and enthusiasm of charac- 
ter, I have no doubt, in the heat of debate, and in an honest en- 
deavour to maintain my opinions against adverse opinions alike 
honestly entertained, as to the best course to be adopted for the 
public welfare, 1 may have often inadvertently and unintentionally, 
in moments of excited debate, made use of language that has been 
offensive, and susceptible of injurious interpretation toward my 
brother Senators. If there be any here who retain wounded feel- 
ings of injury or dissatisfaction produced on such occasions, I beg 
to assure them that I now offer the most ample apology for any 
departure on my part from the established rules of parliamentary 
decorum and courtesy. On the other hand, I assure the Sena- 
tors, one and all, without exception and without reserve, that I 
retire from this chamber without carrying with me a single feel- 
ing of resentment or dissatisfaction to the Senate or any one of 
its Members. 

" I go from this place under the hope that we shall mutually 
consign to perpetual oblivion whatever personal collisions may at 
any time unfortunately have occurred between us ; and that our 
recollections shall dwell in future only on those conflicts of mind 
with mind, those intellectual struggles, those noble exhibitions of 
the powers of logic, argument, and eloquence, honourable to the 
Senate and to the Nation, in which each has sought and con- 
tended for what he deemed the best mode of accomplishing one 
common object, the interest and happiness of our beloved coun- 
try. To these thrilling and delightful scenes it will be my plea- 
sure and my pride to look back in my retirement with unmea- 
sured satisfaction. 

" May the most precious blessings of Heaven rest upon the 
whole Senate, and each Member of it, and may the labours of 



HENRY CLAY. 215 

every one redound to the benefit of the nation and the advance- 
ment of his own fame and renown. And when you shall retire 
to the bosom of your Constituents, may you receive that most 
cheerins and gratifvina; of all human rewards — their cordial 
greeting of ' Well done, good and faithful servant.' 

" And now, Mr. President, and Senators, I bid you all a long, 
a lasting, and a friendly farewell." 

This Address was heard by the crowded Senate Chamber with 
profound feeling. When Mr. Clay ceased to speak, many rose 
to take him by the hand. His noble rival, Mr. Calhoun, walked 
across the floor, and offered his hand ; it was cordially taken ; 
but it is said that their mutual feelings overcame them ; and they 
separated without the power of uttering a word. 

And Henry Clay, in the full tide of popularity, returned to 
seek repose and happiness at Ashland. 1 trust that he will not 
refuse to an Englishwoman the privilege of mingling her vows 
with those of his countrymen, that length of days, and health, 
and peace, may wait upon him. 



EXTRACT FROM MR. CLAY'S SPEECH ON THE SEMINOLE 

WAR. 

Mr. Clay first takes up the treaty of Fort Jackson, of August, 
1814, which he regarded as the cause of the war. After reading 
enough of it to show its character, he said : — 

" I have never perused this instrument until within a few days 
past, and I have read it with the deepest mortification and re- 
gret. A more dictatorial spirit I have never seen displayed 
in any instrument. I would challenge an examination of all the 
records of diplomacy, not excepting even those in the most 
haughty period of imperial Rome, when she was carrying her 
arms into the barbarian nations that surrounded her, and I do not 
believe that a solitary instance can be found of such an inexora- 
ble spirit of domination pervading a compact purporting to be a 
treaty of peace. It consists of the most severe and humiliating 
demands — of the surrender of a large territory — of the privilege 
of makins roads throu(>;h the remnant which was retained — of the 
right of establishing trading houses — of the obligation of deliver- 
ing into our hands their ]3rop]icts ! And all this of a wretched 
people reduced to the last extremity of distress, whose miserable 
existence we have to preserve by a voluntary stipulation to fur- 
nish them with bread] When did all-conquering and desolating 



216 HENRY CLAY. 

Rome ever fail to respect the Altars and the Gods of those whom 
she subjugated? Let me not be told that these prophets were 
impostors, who deceived the Indians. They were their prophets ; 
the Indians believed and venerated them, and it is not for us to 
dictate a religious belief to them. It does not belong to the holy 
character of the religion which we profess, to carry its precepts, 
by the force of the bayonet, into the bosoms of other people. 
Mild and gentle persuasion was the great instrument employed 
by the meek Founder of our religion. We leave to the humane 
and benevolent efforts of the reverend professors of Christianity 
to convert from barbarism those unhappy nations yet immersed 
in its gloom. But, spare them their prophets ! spare their delu- 
sions ! spare their prejudices and superstitions ! spare them even 
their religion, such as it is, from open and cruel violence. When, 
sir, was that treaty concluded? On the very day after the pro- 
tocol was signed, of the first conference between the American 
and British Commissioners, treating of peace, at Ghent. In the 
course of that negotiation, pretensions so enormous were set up 
by the other party, that, when they were promulgated in this 
country, there was one general burst of indignation throughout 
the Continent. Faction itself was silenced, and the firm and un- 
animous determination of all parties was, to fight until the last 
man fell in the ditch, rather than submit to such ignominious 
terms. What a contrast is exhibited between the contempora- 
neous scenes of Ghent and of Fort Jackson! What a powerful 
voucher would the British Commissioners have been furnished 
with if they could have got hold of that treaty I" 

'* The first circumstance which, in the course of his perform- 
ing that duty, fixed our attention, has filled me with regret. It 
was the execution of the Indian chiefs. How, I ask, did they 
come into our possession ? Was it in the course of fair, and 
open, and honourable war ? No ; but by means of deception ; by 
hoisting foreign colours on the staff from which the stars and 
stripes should alone have floated. Thus ensnared, the Indians 
were taken on shore ; and without ceremony, and without delay, 

were hunor. Han"; an Indian ! 

* * # # # 

" But, sir, I have said that you have no right to practise, under 
colour of retaliation, enormities on the Indians. I will advance 
in support of this position, as applicable to the origin of all law, 
the principle, that whatever has been the custom, from the com- 
mencement of a subject, whatever has been the uniform usage, 
coeval and coexistent with the subject to which it relates, be- 
comes its fixed law. Such is the foundation of all common 



HENRY CLAY. 217 

law; and such, I believe, is the principal foundation of all public 
or international law. If, then, it can be shown that from the first 
settlement of the colonies, on this part of the American continent, 
to the present time, we have constantly abstained from retaliating 
upon the Indians the excesses practised by them toward us, we 
are morally bound by this invariable usage, and cannot lawfully 
change it without the most cogent reasons. So far as my know- 
ledge extends, from the first settlement at Plymouth or at James- 
town, it has not been our practice to destroy Indian captives, 
combatants, or non-combatants. I know of but one deviation 
from the code which regulates the warfare between civilized com- 
munities, and that was the destruction of Indian towns, which 
was supposed to be authorized upon the ground that we could not 
bring the war to a termination but by destroying the means 
which nourished it. With this single exception, the other prin- 
ciples of the laws of civilized nations are extended to them, and 
are thus made law in regard to them. When did this humane 
custom, by which, in consideration of their ignorance, and our 
enlightened condition, the rigours of war were mitigated, begin? 
At a time when we were weak, and they comparatively strong ; 
when they were the lords of the soil, and we were seeking, from 
the vices, from the corruptions, from the religious intolerance, 
and from the oppressions of Europe, to gain an asylum among 
them. And when is it proposed to change this custom, to substi- 
tute for it the bloody maxims of barbarous ages, and to interpo- 
late the Indian public law with revolting cruelties? At a time 
when the situation of the two parties is totally changed — when 
we are powerful and they are weak — at a time when, to use a 
figure drawn from their own sublime eloquence, the poor children 
of the forest have been driven by the great wave which has 
flowed in from the Atlantic ocean almost to the base of the 
Rocky Mountains, and overwhelming them in its terrible pro- 
gress, has left no other remains of hundreds of tribes, now extinct, 
than those which indicate the remote existence of their former 
companion, the mammoth of the new world ? Yes, sir, it is at 
this auspicious period of our country, when we hold a proud and 
lofty station among the first nations of the world, that we are 
called upon to sanction a departure from the established laws 
and usages which have regulated our Indian hostilities. And 
does the "honourable gentleman from Massachusetts expect, in this 
august body, this enlightened assembly of Christians and Ameri- 
cans, by glowing appeals to our passions, to make us forget our 
principles, our religion, our clemency, and our humanity ? Why 
is it that we have not practised toward the Indian tribes the right 



218 HENRY CLAY. 

of retaliation, now for the first time asserted in regard to them? 
It is because it is a principle proclaimed by reason, and enforced 
by every respectable writer on the law of nations, that retaliation 
is only justifiable as calculated to produce effect in the war. Ven- 
geance is a new motive for resorting to it. If retaliation will 
produce no effect on the enemy, we are bound to abstain from it 
by every consideration of humanity and of justice. Will it then 
produce effect on the Indian tribes ? No ; they care not about 
the execution of those of their warriors who are taken captive. 
They are considered as disgraced by the very circumstance of 
their captivity, and it is often mercy to the unhappy captive to 
deprive him of his existence. The poet evinced a profound know- 
ledge of the Indian character, when he put into the mouth of the 
son of a distinguished chief, about to be led to the stake and tor- 
tured by his victorious enemy, the words, — 

' Begin, ye tormentors ! your threats are in vain : 
The son of Alknomook will never complain.' 

" I will not trespass much longer upon the time of the Com- 
mittee ; but I trust I shall be indulged with some few reflections 
upon the danger of permitting the conduct on which it has been 
my painful duty to animadvert, to pass without a solemn expres- 
sion of the disapprobation of this House. Recall to your recol- 
lection the free nations which have gone before us. Where are 
they now 1 

* Gone glimmering through the dream of things that were, 
A schoolboy's tale, the wonder of an hour.' 

And how have they lost their liberties 1 If we could transport 
ourselves back to the ages when Greece and Rome flourished in 
their greatest prosperity, and, mingling in the throng, should ask 
a Grecian, if he did not fear that some daring military chiei\nin, 
covered with glory, some Philip or Alexander, would one day 
overthrow the liberties of his country, the confident and indig- 
nant Grecian would exclaim, ' No! no! we have nothing to fear 
from our heroes ; our liberties will be eternal.' If a Roman 
citizen had been asked, if he did not fear that the conqueror of 
Gaul might establish a throne upon the ruins of public liberty, 
he would have instantly repelled the unjust insinuation. Yet 
Greece fell ; Ca3sar passed the Rubicon, and the patriotic arm 
even of Brutus could not preserve the liberties of his devoted 
country ! The celebrated Madame de Stael, in her last and per- 
haps her best work, has said, that in the very year, almost the 



HENRY CLAY. 219 

very month, when the President of the Directory declared that 
monarchy would never more show its frightful head in France, 
Buonaparte, with his grenadiers, entered the palace of St. Cloud, 
and dispersing, with the bayonet, the Deputies of the People, de- 
liberating on the affairs of the state, laid the foundation of that 
vast fabric of despotism which overshadowed all Europe. I 
hope not to be misunderstood. I am far from intimating that 
General Jackson cherishes any designs inimical to the liberties 
of the country. I believe his intentions to be pure and patriotic. 
I thank God that he would not, but I thank him still more that 
he could not, if he would, overturn the liberties of the republic. 
But precedents, if bad, are fraught with the most dangerous con- 
sequences. Man has been described, by some of those who 
have treated of his nature, as a bundle of habits. The defini- 
tion is much truer when applied to Governments. Precedents 
are their habits. There is one important difference between the 
formation of habits by an individual and by Governments. He 
contracts it only after frequent repetition. A single instance 
fixes the habit and determines the direction of Governments. 
Against the alarmino; doctrine of unlimited discretion in our mill- 
tary commanders when applied even to prisoners of war, I must 
enter my protest. It begins upon them ; it will end on us. I 
hope our happy form of Government is to be perpetual. But, if 
it is to be preserved, it must be by the practice of virtue, by 
justice, by moderation, by magnanimity, by greatness of soul, 
by keeping a watchful and steady eye on the executive ; and, 
above all, by holding to a strict accountability the military 
branch of the public force. 

" We are fighting a great moral battle, for the benefit, not 
only of our country, but of all mankind. The eyes of the 
whole world are in fixed attention upon us. One, and the 
largest portion of it, is gazing with contempt, with jealousy, and 
with envy ; the other portion, with hope, with confidence, and 
with affection. Every where the black cloud of legitimacy is 
suspended over the world, save only one bright spot, which 
breaks out from the political hemisphere of the west, to en- 
lighten, and animate, and gladden the human heart. Obscure 
that, by the downfall of liberty here, and all mankind are en- 
shrouded in a pall of universal darkness. To you, Mr. Chair- 
man, belongs the high privilege of transmitting, unimpaired, to 
posterity, the fair character and liberty of our country. Do you 
expect to execute this high trust, by trampling, or suffering to be 
trampled down, law, justice, the Constitution, and the rights of 
the People ? by exhibiting examples of inhumanity, and cruelty, 



220 HENRY CLAY. 

and ambition? When the minions of despotism heard, in Eu- 
rope, of the seizure of Pensacola, how did they chuckle, and 
chide the admirers of our institutions, tauntingly pointing to the 
demonstration of a spirit of injustice and aggrandizement made 
by our country, in the midst of an amicable negotiation. Be- 
hold, said they, the conduct of those who are constantly re- 
proaching kings. You saw how those admirers were astounded 
and hung their heads. You saw, too, when that illustrious man, 
who presides over us, adopted his pacific, moderate, and just 
course, how they once more lifted up their heads with exultation, 
and delight beaming in their countenances. And you saw how 
those minions themselves were finally compelled to unite in the 
general praises bestowed upon our Government. Beware how 
you forfeit this exalted character. Beware how you give a fatal 
sanction, in this infant period of our Republic, scarcely yet two 
score years old, to military insubordination. Remember that 
Greece had her Alexander, Rome her Ccesar, England her Crom- 
well, France her Buonaparte, and that if we would escape the 

rock on which they split, we must avoid their errors. 

# * * # * 

" I hope gentlemen will deliberately survey the awful isthmus 
on which we stand. They may bear down all opposition ; they 
may even vote the General the public thanks ; they may carry 
him triumphantly through this House. But, if they do, in my 
humble judgment, it will be a triumph of the principle of insub- 
ordination, a triumph of the military over the civil authority, a 
triumph over the powers of this House, a triumph over the Con- 
stitution of the land. And I pray most devoutly to Heaven, that 
it may not prove, in its ultimate effects and consequences, a 
triumph over the liberties of the people." 



EXTRACT FROM MR. CLAY'S SPEECH ON MR. TYLER'S 
VETO OF THE BANK BILL. 

" On the fourth of April last, the lamented Harrison, the Pre- 
sident of the United States, paid the debt of nature. President 
Tyler, who, as Vice-President, succeeded to the duties of that 
office, arrived in the city of Washington, on the sixth of that 
month. He found the whole metropolis wrapped in gloom, every 
heart filled with sorrow and sadness, every eye streaming with 
tears, and the surrounding hills yet flinging back the echo of the 



HENRY CLAY. 221 

bells which were tolled on that melancholy occasion. On enter- 
ing the Presidential Mansion, he contemplated the pale body of 
his predecessor stretched before him, and clothed in the black 
habiliments of death. At that solemn moment I have no doubt 
that the heart of President Tyler was overflowing with mingled 
emotions of grief, of patriotism, and of gratitude — above all, of 
gratitude to that country, by a majority of whose suffrages, be- 
stowed at the preceding November, he then stood the most dis- 
tinguished, the most elevated, the most honoured, of all living 
Whigs of the United States. 

" Notwithstanding all our concessions, made in a genuine and 
sincere spirit of conciliation, the sanction of the President could 
not be obtained, and the bill has been returned by him with his 
objections. 

" And I shall now proceed to consider those objections, with 
as much brevity as possible, but with the most perfect respect, 
official and personal, toward the Chief Magistrate. 

" After stating that the power of Congress to establish a Na- 
tional Bank, to operate per se, has been a controverted question 
from the origin of the government, the President remarks : — 

" ' Men most justly and deservedly esteemed for their high in- 
tellectual endowments, their virtue and their patriotism, have, in 
regard to it, entertained different and conflicting opinions. Con- 
gresses have differed. The approval of one President has been 
followed by the disapproval of another.' 

" From this statement of the case it mav be inferred, that the 
President considers the weight of authority, pro and con, to be 
equal and balanced. But if he intended to make such an array 
of^ it, if he intended to say that it was an equilibrium, I must re- 
spectfully, but most decidedly, dissent from him. I think the 
conjoint testimony of history, tradition, and the knowledge of 
living witnesses proves the contrary. How stands the question as 
to the opinions of Congresses'? The Congress of 1791, the Con- 
gress of 1813 — '14, the Congress of 1815— '16, the Congress of 
1831 — '32, and, finally, the present Congress, have all respec- 
tively and unequivocally, affirmed the existence of a power in 
Congress to establish a National Bank to operate per se. We 
behold, then, the concurrent opinion of five different Congresses 
on one side. And what Congress is there on the opposite side? 
The Congress of 1811 ? I was a member of the Senate in that 
year, when it decided, by the casting vote of the Vice-President, 
against the renewal of the charter of the old Bank of the United 
States. And I now here, in my place, add to the testimony 
already before the public, by declaring that it is within my cer- 



222 HENRY CLAY. 

tain knowledge, that that decision of the Senate did not proceed 
from a disbelief of a majority of the Senate in the power of Con- 
gress to establish a National Bank, but from combined conside- 
rations of expediency and constitutionality. A majority of the 
Senate, on the contrary, as I know, entertained no doubt as to 
the power of Congress. Thus the account, as to Congresses, 
stands five for, and not one, or, at most, not more than one, 
against the power. 

" Let us now look into the state of authority derivable from 
the opinions of Presidents of the United States. President 
Washington believed in the powers of Congress, and approved 
a Bank bill. President Jefferson approved acts to extend branches 
into other parts of the United States, and to punish counterfeiters 
of the notes of the Bank — acts which were devoid of all justifica- 
tion, whatever, upon the assumption of the unconstitutionality of 
the Bank. For how could branches be extended, or punishment 
be lawfully inflicted upon the counterfeiters of the paper of a 
corporation which came into existence without any authority, 
and in violation of the constitution of the land ? James Madison, 
notwithstanding those early scruples which he had entertained, 
and which he probably still cherished, sanctioned and signed a bill 
to charter the late Bank of the United States. It is perfectly 
well known that Mr. Monroe never did entertain any scruples or 
doubts in regard to the power of Congress, tiere, then, are 
four Presidents of the United States who have directly or colla- 
terally borne official testimony to the existence of the Bank power 
in Congress. And what President is there, that ever bore 
unequivocally opposite testimony — that disapproved a Bank char- 
ter, in the sense intended by President Tyler ? General Jackson, 
although he did apply the Veto power to the bill for re-chartering 
the late Bank of the United States in 1832, it is within the perfect 
recollection of us all, not only testified to the utility of a Bank of 
the United States, but declared, that, if he had been applied to by 
Congress, he could have furnished the plan of such a Bank. 

" Thus, Mr. President, we perceive, that, in reviewing the ac- 
tion of the legislative and executive departments of the Govern- 
ment, there is a vast preponderance of the weight of authority 
maintaining the existence of the power in Congress. But President 
Tyler has, I presume unintentionally, wholly omitted to notice 
the judgment and decisions of the third co-ordinate department of 
the Government upon this controverted question — that department, 
whose interpretations of the Constitution, within its proper juris- 
diction and sphere of action, are binding upon all; and which, 
therefore, may be considered as exercising a controlling power 



HENRY CLAY. 223 

over both the other departments. The Supreme Court of the 
United States, with its late Chief Justice, the illustrious Marshall, 
at its head, unanimously decided that Congress possessed this 
Bank power; and this adjudication was sustained and re-affirmed 
whenever afterward the question arose before the court. 

"After recounting the occasions, during his public career, on 
which he had expressed an opinion against the power of Congress 
to charter a Bank of the United States, the President proceeds to 
say: — 

" 'Entertaining the opinions alluded to, and having taken this 
oath, the Senate and the country will see that I could not give 
my sanction to a measure of the character described, without 
surrendering all claim to the respect of honourable men — all con- 
fidence on the part of the people, all self-respect, all regard for 
moral and religious obligations; without an observance of which 
no Government can be prosperous, and no people can be happy. 
It would be to commit a crime, which 1 would not wilfullv commit 
to gain any earthly reward, and which would justly subject me 
to the ridicule and scorn of all virtuous men.' 

" Mr. President, I must think, and hope I may be allowed to 
say, with profound deference to the Chief Magistrate, that it ap- 
pears to me he has viewed with too lively sensibility the personal 
consequences to himself of his approval of the Bill; and that, sur- 
rendering himself to a vivid imagination, he has depicted them in 
much too glowing and exaggerated colours, and that it would have 
been most happy, if he had looked more to the deplorable conse- 
quences of a Veto upon the hopes, the interests, and the happiness 
of his country. Does it follow that a Magistrate who yields his 
private judgment to the concurring authority of numerous decisions, 
repeatedly and deliberately pronounced, after the lapse of long 
intervals, by all the departments of Government, and by all 
parties, incurs the dreadful penalties described by the President? 
Can any man be disgraced and dishonoured, who yields his pri- 
vate opinion to the judgment of the nation I In this case, the 
country (I mean a majority), Congress, and, according to common 
fame, a unanimous Cabinet, were all united in favour of the Bill. 
Should any man feel himself humbled and degraded in yielding 
to the conjoint force of such high authority ? Does any man, 
w^ho at one period of his life shall have expressed a particular 
opinion, and at a subsequent period shall act upon the opposite 
opinion, expose himself to the terrible consequences which have 
been portrayed by the President? How is it with the Jud^e, in 
the case by no means rare, who bows to the authority of repeated 
precedents, settling a particular question, while in his private 



224 HENRY CLAY. 

judgment, the law was otherwise? How is it with that numerous 
class of public men in this country, and with the two great 
parties that have divided it, who, at ditferent periods, have main- 
tained and acted on opposite opinions in respect to this very Bank 
question. 

"How is it with James Madison, the Father of the Constitution 
— that great man whose services to his country placed him only 
second to Washington; whose virtues and purity in private life, 
whose patriotism, intelligence, and wisdom in public councils, 
stand unsurpassed? He was a member of the National Conven- 
tion that formed, and of the Virginia Convention that adopted, 
the Constitution. No man understood it better than he did. He 
was opposed, in 1791, to the establishment of the Bank of the 
United States, upon constitutional ground; and, in 1816, he ap- 
proved and signed the charter of the late Bank of the United 
States. It is a part of the secret history connected with the first 
Bank, that James Madison had, at the instance of General Wash- 
ington, prepared a Veto for him in the contingency of his rejection 
of the bill. Thus stood James Madison, when, in 1815, he ap- 
plied the Veto to a bill to charter a Bank upon considerations of 
expediency, but with a clear and express admission of the exist- 
ence of a constitutional power of Congress to charter one. In 
1816, the bill which was then presented to him being free from 
the objections applicable to that of the previous year, he sanc- 
tioned and signed it. Did James Madison surrender 'all claim 
to the respect of honourable men, all confidence on the part of 
the people, all self-respect, all regard for moral and religious 
obligations?' Did the pure, the virtuous, the gifted James Madi- 
son, by his sanction and signature to the charter of the late Bank 
of the United States, commit a crime which justly subjected him 
'to the ridicule and scorn of all virtuous men?' " 

tI- tF vf^ tP vf* 7f* 

" If it were possible," (says Mr. Clay,) to disinter the vene- 
rated remains of James Madison, reanimate his perishing form, 
and place him once more in that chair of state, which he so 
much adorned, what would have been his course, if this bill had 
been presented to him, even supposing him never to have an- 
nounced his acquiescence in the settled judgment of the nation ? 
He would have said that human controversy, in regard to a 
single question should not be perpetual, and ought to have a ter- 
mination. This, about the power to establish a Bank of the 
United States, has been long enough continued. The nation, 
under all the forms of its public action, has often and deliberate- 
ly decided it. A Bank, and associated financial and currency 



HENRY CLAY. 225 

questions, which had long slept, were revived, and have divided 
the nation during the last ten years of arduous and bitter strug- 
gle ; and the party which put down the Bank, and which occa- 
sioned all the disorders in our currency and finances, has itself 
been signally put down by one of those great moral and political 
revolutions which a free, a patriotic people can but seldom arouse 
itself to make. Human infallibility has not been granted by God; 
and the chances of error are much greater on the side of one man, 
than on that of the majority of a whole people and their succes- 
sive leofislaturesdurino; a Ions: period of time. I yield to the irre- 
sistible force of authority. I will not put myself in opposition to 
a measure so imperatively demanded by the public voice, and so 
essential to elevate my depressed and suffering countrymen." 

The conclusion of Mr. Clay's reply to Mr. Rives rightfully 
claims a place here : — 

" I rose not to say one word which should wound the feelings 
of President Tyler. The Senator says, that, if placed in like cir- 
cumstances, I would have been the last man to avoid putting a 
direct Veto upon the Bill, had it met my disapprobation ; and he 
does me the honour to attribute to me high qualities of stern and 
unbending intrepidity. I hope, that in all that relates to personal 
firmness, all that concerns a just appreciation of the insignificance 
of human life — whatever may be attempted to threaten or alarm 
a soul not easily swayed by opposition, or awed or intimidated 
by menace — a stout heart and a steady eye, that can survey, un- 
moved and undaunted, any mere personal perils that assail this 
poor, transient, perishing frame, I may, without disparagement, 
compare with other men. But there is a sort of courage, which, 
I frankly confess it, I do not possess, a boldness to which I dare 
not aspire, a valour which I cannot covet. I cannot lay myself 
down in the way of the welfare and happiness of my country. 
That I cannot, I have not the courage to do. I cannot interpose 
the power with which I may be invested — a power conferred, not 
for my personal benefit, nor for my aggrandizement, but for my 
country's good — to check her onward march to greatness and 
glory. I have not courage enough, I am too cowardly for that. 
I would not, I dare not, in the exercise of such a trust, lie down, 
and place my body across the path that leads my country to 
prosperity and happiness. This is a sort of courage widely dif- 
ferent from that which a man may display in his private conduct 
and personal relations. Personal or private courage is totally 
distinct from that higher and nobler courage which prompts the 
patriot to offer himself a voluntary sacrifice to his country'' s good. 

15 



226 HENRY CLAY. 

" Nor did I say, as the Senator represents, that the President 
should have resigned. I intimated no personal wish or desire 
that he should resign. I referred to the fact of a memorable re- 
signation in his public life. And what I did say was, that there 
were other alternatives before him besides Vetoing the Bill ; and 
that it was worthy of his consideration whether consistency did 
not require that the example which he had set when he had a 
constituency of one State, should not be followed when he had a 
constituency commensurate with the whole Union. Another 
alternative was, lo suffer the Bill, without his signature, to pass 
into a law under the provisions of the Constitution. And I must 
confess, I see, in this, no such escaping by the back door, no such 
jumping out of the window, as the Senator talks about. Appre- 
hensions of the imputation of the want of firmness sometimes 
impel us to perform rash and inconsiderate acts. It is the 
greatest courage to be able to bear the imputation of the want of 
courage. But pride, vanity, egotism, so unamiable and offensive 
in private life, are vices which partake of the character of crimes 
in the conduct of public affairs. The unfortunate victim of these 
passions cannot see beyond the little, petty, contemptible circle 
of his own personal interests. All his thoughts are withdrawn 
from his country, and concentrated on his consistency, his firm- 
ness, himself. Tfie high, the exalted, the siiblhne emotions of a 
'patriotism, ivhich, soaring toward heaveii, rises far above all 
mean, low, or selfish things, and is absorbed by one soul-trans- 
porting thought of the good and the glory of one's country, are 
never felt in his impenetrable bosom. That patriotism which, 
catching its iyispirations from the immortal God, and leaving at 
an immeasurable distance below all lesser, grovelling, personal 
interests and feelings, animates and prompts to deeds of self- 
sacrifice, of valour, of devotion, and of death itself — that is public 
virtue ; that is the noblest, the sublimest of all public virtues ! 

" 1 said nothing of any obligation on the part of the President 
to conform his judgment to the opinions of the Senate and House 
of Representatives, although the Senator argued as if I had, and 
persevered in so arguing, after repeated corrections. I said no 
such thing. I know and respect the perfect independence of each 
department, acting within its proper sphere, of other departments. 
But I referred to the majorities in the two Houses of Congress as 
further and strong evidence of the opinion of the people of the 
United States in favour of the establishment of a Bank of the 
United States. And I contended that, according to the doctrine 
of instructions which prevailed in Virginina, and of which the 



HENRY CLAY. 227 

President is a disciple, and, in pursuance of the example already 
cited, he ought not to have rejected the Bill. 

" I have heard that, on his arrival at the seat of the General Go- 
vernment, to enter upon the duties of the office of Vice President, in 
March last, when interrogated how far he meant to conform, in his 
new station, to certain peculiar opinions which were held in Vir- 
ginia, he made this patriotic and noble reply : — ' I am Vice Presi- 
dent of the United States, and not of the State of Virginia ; and I 
shall be governed by the wishes and opinions of my Constituents.' 
When I heard of this encouraging and satisfactory reply, believ- 
ing, as I most religiously do, that a large majority of the people 
of the United States are in favour of a National Bank, (and gen- 
tlemen may shut their eyes to the fact, deny, or dispute, or reason 
it away as they please, but it is my conscientious conviction that 
two-thirds, if not more, of the people of the United States, desire 
such an institution), I thought I beheld a sure and certain gua- 
rantee for the fulfilment of the wishes of the people of the United 
States. I thought it impossible, that the wants and wishes of a 
great people, who had bestowed such unbounded and generous 
confidence, and conferred on him such exalted honours, should 
be disregarded and disappointed. It did not enter into my ima- 
gination to conceive, that one, who had shown so much deference 
and respect to the presumed sentiments of a single State, should 
display less toward the sentiments of the whole nation. 

" I hope, Mr. President, that, in performing the painful duty 
which had devolved on me, I have not transcended the limits of 
legitimate debate. I repeat, in all truth and sincerity, the assu- 
ranee to the Senate and the country, that nothing but a stern, 
reluctant, and indispensable sense of honour and of duty could 
have forced from me the response which I have made to the Pre- 
sident's objections. But, instead of yielding without restraint to 
the feelings of disappointment and mortification excited by the 
perusal of his message, I have anxiously endeavoured to temper 
the notice of it, which I have been compelled to take, by the 
respect due to the office of Chief Magistrate, and by the personal 
regard and esteem which I have ever entertained for its present 
incumbent." 



THE RIGHT REV. JOHN HUGHES, D.D. 

Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of New York. 

" Be just, and fear not ; 
Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy Country's, 
Thy God's, and Truth's." 

The Bishop is the historical man of his day. He assumes his 
position among the Statesmen of America, not as an active poli- 
tician, but as the Representative, Priest, Controller and Guardian 
of a powerful body now incorporated in the Democracy of the 
Republic ; I allude to the Roman Catholics, both native and fo- 
reign. It is a high and responsible capacity. His power over 
his people is without limit ; and they revere alike his person and 
his office ; they behold him Supreme in wisdom and in virtue ; 
his wisdom devoted incessantly to their earthly and their heaven- 
ly weal ; while in the exercises of his Virtue are displayed, for 
their instruction, the exalted Faith, and holy Hope, and Christian 
Charity becoming him who is at once the example of their lives, 
and the Pastor of their souls. 

The Bishop is the greatest temporal Prijice hi America, and 
he is the greatest spiritual Prince in the icorld. And his reign 
is more immutable than that of Kings and Presidents, because it 
is not merely an earthly, but a heavenly bond that unites him to 
his flock ; — Kings rule by inheritance, and Presidents by elec- 
tion ; but this man rules alone through the mighty influences of 
Religion. And marvellous are its effects, not only upon the peo- 
ple committed to his charge, but on those also whose religious 
and political prejudices have been and are arrayed against them. 

The discipline of the Catholic Church, fortified by experience, 
sanctioned by time, justified by its results, does even now exert 
its guardian influences upon the moral character of the American 
people. As education proceeds in its glorious mission, this long- 
persecuted, much-enduring faith, is gradually restored to its ho- 
nours and to its privileges of usefulness. 

The dearest and warmest friends of the Republic look with fear 



RIGHT REV. JOHN HUGHES, D.D. 229 

and trembling on her sectional divisions, her party jealousies ; 
upon the various and conflicting interests which are enclosed 
within her bosom ; upon the strange and anomalous divisions, 
sub-divisions, and minor sub-divisions of her interminable and 
contending religious denominations ; and with greater apprehen- 
sion still upon the varieties of national character and feeling 
which are daily becoming more strongly marked in feature, and 
which require more urgently every hour some amalgamating in- 
fluence of higher origin, of more harmonizing tendency than the 
civil or the legal code. The equality enjoyed, and the freedom 
exercised by every individual of the United States in the choice 
of their religion, moral views, commercial enterprises, habits, 
manners, and society, is their birthright ; — and were men angels, 
or still lived in the blessed ignorance of evil that was the lot of 
our first parents in Paradise; — then, then indeed this freedom 
would be as heavenly in its effects as in its origin. But Man, 
alas ! is still apparelled in his coil of clay; — he is born in sin, 
and a child of wrath, and his very virtues themselves are imbued 
with a taint of the earth from which his mortal body was com- 
pounded ; his ardour becomes ambition, his hope grows into con- 
fidence, his repentance sinks into despair, his wisdom is folly, 
his liberty licentiousness ; and since the commission of that pris- 
tine sin which " first brought death into the world, and all 
our wo," he who was created in the similitude of God, pursues 
his weary footsteps begirt with wo, deformed with vice, a frail 
and darkened image. 

The Gospel of Christ indeed sheds on us all its hallowed rays ; 
— but the experience of all ages has shown that even the Gospel, 
the inspired word of God himself, must be moulded into a tangible 
form to be available in its effects on our degraded nature; that 
believers must practise certain preconcerted external modes of 
worship extracted from its promulgations, and must unite in one 
universally acknowledged Confession of Faith ; in order to esta- 
blish and perpetuate religious observances among men. The 
primitive Christians, guided by that light from Heaven, which 
like the Star in the East upon the path of the expectant Shep- 
herds, shone upon their fond inquiries, elicited from the New 
Testament, the precious Legacy which they had received from 
Christ and his Apostles, those forms and habitudes of prayer 
which in after and happier years were ratified by the Fathers, 
and confirmed by the Councils of the Church. 

These are the forms and habitudes which constitute 
THE Creed and Worship ; or, in other words, the Ritual 
OF the Catholic Religion. 



230 RIGHT REV. JOHN HUGHES, D.D. 

Modified in after ages by accidental causes, sometimes in 
honour, sometimes in dishonour, sometimes in wisdom, sometimes 
in folly, these forms have, notwithstanding, been the true, essen- 
tial, and unchangeable canons on which all other denominations 
have reared their faith ; and it is somewhat curious that the 
nearer these recusant denominations approach to the Roman 
Catholic ordinances, whether of Creed or form, the more exalted 
are the claims they put forth to Orthodoxy. But vain is the 
assumption, and false the claim ; there is no stronger, more 
impregnable point in Orthodoxy, than Unity — and ii is precisely 
this Unity which is the brightest jewel in the diadem of the 
Catholic Church ; — it is this Unity, in all her attributes, that has 
not only enabled her to be the mightiest, most extended, and most 
apostolic of Christian Communities, but it has carried her through 
centuries of sorrow with unrepining patience and submission. Her 
ministers have endured the Cross, despising the shame ; — it is 
this Unity which creates the attachment of her disciples to her 
Faith ; — her Priests teach as men having authority ; they preach 
the Gospel assisted by the light of tradition; they study and they 
know; it is, moreover, her Unity, that quickening spirit which 
has at length enabled her to cast off her sackcloth and ashes, to 
put on the whole Armour of Light, and in a new hemisphere the 
gift of her disciples to the elder world, to arise in Glory and in 
Majesty ; — universal, spiritual, and incorruptible. 

But of all the consequences which result from the Unity of 
the Church, the most important, the most needful in the existing 
state of society, is the Discipline of the heart of man ; the 
reduction of his nature to the laws of Hcave7i and of Humaiiity. 
It is of this Discipline and its Effects that I would briefly speak. 

I have alluded above to the apprehensions entertained by many 
of the best and wisest citizens of America with regard to the 
various intersectional causes which may estrange her people 
from each other, springing, as they do, in countless multitudes 
from North, and South, and East, and West. The impending 
result is alienation or disru/ption. Where then is the Union? 
I have also remarked upon the privileges exercised alike in 
common by the young and by the aged, by the learned and by 
the ignorant, by the high and by the low ; by the master and his 
servant, by the teacher and the pupil — by the parent and the 
child; equal terms exist between all these unequal relations of 
life ; and the natural consequence is insubordination. Where 
then is prosperity ; where is peace, or the rational liberty and 
protection of the citizen ? And I have commented upon the 



RIGHT REV. JOHN HUGHES. D.D, 231 

extraordinary spectacle presented by the religious denominations 
in America, and the dramatic aspects they present in their zeal- 
ous efforts, each to emblazon majority upon their banner. They 
are separated into invisible fractions. " As a house divided 
against itself must fall," so these various creeds must be ex- 
tinguished by their own ambitious and restless aspirations. And 
the effect must be their gradual extermination. What then 
becomes of Religion ? 

From these momentous causes the difficulties to be anticipated 
are many, and manifest ; they need not be enlarged upon. 

And where is the remedy? not in the Institutions of a Demo- 
cracy ; in them is the origin of the evil ; not in parental authority, 
— the youth of America is impatient of restraint ; not in self- 
correction, — the masses any where rarely practise it ; not in the 
mechanical instruction of the schools, — they o'er inform the mhid^ 
and leave the spirit in its ignorance ; not in the abridgment of 

Liberty, either public or private, — God forbid ! 

— — — And looking round in anxious and inquiring solicitude, 
for dear, unutterably dear to me is that America where my 
children's children will be reared, I behold, with grateful heart, 
provision made by the Supreme Regulator of human things 
against these ripening dangers ; dangers which the mind dares 
scarcely pause to look upon. A scheme of infinite Mercy has 
been divulged and committed to the wisdom and energy of ap- 
pointed Messengers to be fulfilled. The Clergy of the Catholic 
Church op Europe, the Heirs of the first Pilgrims of 
THE Cross in the Western Hemisphere, seek their in- 
heritance ; they rest their claims upon the Gospel which they 
preach, upon the services which they render, and the examples 
which they give ; taking neither purse nor scrip across the ocean, 
they carry with them the inestimable boon which maketh men 
wise unto Salvation. They have laid the foundation stone of 
real education ; education of the heart ; the formation of character; 
without ivhich liberty is licentiousness ; and compared to which 
the mere accomplishments of the mind and fingers are airy 
nothings, unsubstantial in possession and useless in application. 
In the numerous and crowded Catholic Schools of the United 
States are taught the exercise of prayer, the practice of morality, 
the laws of obedience and responsibility ; and self-sacrifice and 
moral and spiritual humility, and good works as well as saving 
faith, and charity, and brotherly love, and tolerance ; and here 
the strong hand of Discipline is felt and respected. Many well- 
judging persons of different religious persuasions have assured 



232 RIGHT REV. JOHN HUGHES, D.D. 

me that the only really useful and corrective education is that of 
the Catholic Schools and Colleges. So far as I have known, 
these Seminaries are crowded not only with pupils of their own 
Creed, but with those of all other Sects. And I have high offi- 
cial authority for saying that the Ministers and Missionaries of 
the Roman Catholic Church are at this moment doing more good 
for the cause of virtue and morality, throughout the whole con- 
tinent of America, than those of any other religious denomination 
whatever. 

The Constitution 'provides that no religious sect shall he in- 
corporated with the Government. This wise and wholesome pro- 
hibition can never be infringed; — every American heart would rebel, 
every American hand would be raised at so foul a usurpation. The 
Union of Church and State, unnatural in all governments, would be 
monstrous in a Republic, and must, of necessity, end in the corrup- 
tion of both, and the destruction of one. In such an event, the 
weaker must yield to the stronger, the Church to the State, and any 
Church in America, by seekingaggrandizement in wealth or political 
power, would shortly and inevitably discover that it had drawn upon 
itself hopeless and endless ruin. It is the general opinion among 
the enlightened Catholic Clergy that the greatest trial the Church 
has ever endured has been its union with the State ; and they 
regard its emancipation from such an alliance as the most certain 
assurance of its future rapid increase, and permanent establish- 
ment. Excess of weahh, excess of power, corrupt the Church 
as they do mundane Communities. 

But the professors of the Catholic Religion in America, are too 
wise, too well instructed in the history of past ages, and too ob- 
servant of the present aspect of both hemispheres of the world, to 
be still ignorant that all forms of Religious Administration must 
be engrafted upon national character; that they must reflect the 
civil institutions of a country, so far as the laivs of God permit^ 
and not oppose or rival them — that their ministers must teach 
submission ; not usurp power. And it is the most extraordinary 
feature of this wonderful Religion that it is adapted to all Govern- 
ments, all nations, all periods, all climates, all characters ; with 
their vicissitudes and their attributes. In Europe, both Monarchies 
and Republics have professed its Creed ; and in America, the 
purest of Democracies is gradually recognising its perfections. 

The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church in the United States 
seek not endowment ; they love their independence ; they seek 
not power; they prize their purity; they seek not sinecures; 
they value their high prerogative of usefulness. And thus as 



RIGHT REV. JOHN HUGHES, D.D. 233 

saintly men do they pursue their steady way, void of offence 
before God and Man, approved on earth, and registered in 
Heaven. 

I am an Episcopalian, or Protestant of the Church of England 
by my profession of religious Faith — in this Creed was I born, 
in this Creed was I baptized, confirmed, and married ; and in 
this Creed I hope to die ; it is the prevailing worship of my 
country ; for nineteen years I have knelt by my husband's side 
at the same Altar; its excellent and indefatigable Minister,* is 
our neighbour, friend, and relative ; one by one our children 
have been presented at its sacred font ; year by year our sym- 
pathies have strengthened, and our trust has been confirmed in 
its rites and promises ; and I can suppose no circumstance to 
which its principles and its ceremonials may not to me be all 
sufficient. But I am not, cannot be blinded to the many excel- 
lencies of the Catholic Church; and especially as its Institutions 
regard America ; they are, beyond comparison, the best adapted 
to curb the passions of a young, a fierce, impetuous, intelligent, 
generous and high-minded Democracy ;t — to protect the Religion 
of a Republic from annihilation ; to subdue the struggling and 
discordant interests of an immense Territory into harmony, and 
to enchain the sympathies of a whole people in one magnificent 
scheme of morality and devotion. " They shall be one fold 
under one Shepherd." 

The Institutions besides, of this Church, are themselves based 
upon that very equality which their discipline so efficiently 
modifies. There is one common law, and one alone, for all — in 
the words of the Old Testament, so admirably adapted to the 
description of the Catholic Faith ; — " FJere the wicked cease 
from troubling; and here the weary are at rest ; here the prisoners 
rest together ; they hear not the voice of the oppressor. The 
small and great are there ; and the servant is free from his 
master." These words cannot be said to the same extent of any 
other Church whatever. 

The celibacy of the Catholic Clergy (a matter about which all 
this busy gossiping world concerns itself infinitely more than 
they do themselves), is another great advantage in the wilds of 
this great continent, and in her populous cities. No domestic or 
personal anxieties distract or lead them from their flock ; " DH 

* The Rev. John Tobin, of Liscard, in Cheshire. 

t And of that Democracy I am the proud adherent, tlie faithful advocate, 
and the devoted admirer. 



234 RIGHT REV. JOHN HUGHES, D.D. 

qii'un Prctre se marie, il rCest plus Prttre /"* observed the 
Marquis de Talaru, to me one day, upon the Mississippi. And 
I frequently experienced the truth of the remark. 

I yield this tribute of just and high commendation to the pro- 
fessors of this Faith with pleasure mingled with pain ; for I owe 
them much excuse; — I blush for my former weak and con- 
temptible intolerance. I was reared in the vulgar prejudices of 
ignorance against Catholic teachers and their disciples : — in 
England, I knew them not; — sought them not; — loved them not ; 
but among the many benefits derived from my visit to America, 
has been that one of exceeding value, the acquaintance and 
friendship of the excellent and enlightened Bishop of New York, 
who holds so high a place in his adopted country. f 

Struck with his high qualities, for but to see him is to discover 
them, I began to seek his converse, and to wish his friendship ; 
freely and faithfully these favours were asked, freely and faith- 
fully they were given. And from him I learned to believe that 
other Catholics were good and true ; to think that Popish Priests 
and Jesuits were not altogether bigots, and hypocrites, and 
licentious livers ; and thence I asked the generous Bishop to 
give me the means o^ judgi7ig for 'myself, hy \>\ii{\x\g into ray 
hand the suitable introductions. He gave me a letter to Dr. 
Ignatius Bourget, Bishop of Montreal, in Canada. With this as 
a general passport I presented myself throughout the United 
States, and visited, probably, more thoroughly the Catholic In- 
stitutions, both of that country and of Canada, than any other 
traveller ever possessed the means of doing. I saw their Col- 
leges and Seminaries, their Schools and Churches ; I saw those 
angelic women the Sisters of Charity and of Mercy serving the 
Hospitals, curing the insane, attending the poor and vile, and 
pouring balm into every affliction of mind or body with which 
an inscrutable Providence visits humanity ; I saw the learned 
Jesuit Fathers fulfilling their vows of self-annihilation, and 

* As soon as a Priest marries, he is no longer a Priest. 

+ I had a favour to ask from him on the behalf of a friend, and called upon 
him, simply introducing myself as the friend of Dr. Lingard, the Historian 
of England. It was a matter of the highest gratification to me to find the 
name of this revered and gifted person as widely known, and his talents and 
character as highly appreciated in America as they are in England. I have 
described his person, way of life, and manners, to numerous readers and 
admirers of his Works throughout my travels ; — on the noble St. Lawrence, 
on the lovely Lake of the Hurons, on the beloved Mississippi, in Canada, 
throughout the United States, (even in Connecticut,) the Americans, with 
their free and independent habit of praising merit, all ascribe honour to Dr. 
Lingard. 



RIGHT REV. JOHN HUGHES, D.D. 235 

making the cause of education peculiarly their own ; wonderful 
in their resources, and raising up the means of good even in the 
desert ; I saw the accomplished and graceful Ursulines training 
up their young and lovely pupils in meekness, in modesty, in 
cheerfulness and knowledge ; and I heard the eloquent preachers 
of this eloquent Faith, denouncing crime and encouraging virtue, 
and surpassing in vigour, and attraction, and influence, the 
preachers of all other sects of Religion. 

And thus by their works do I judge them, — for these things I 
have seen with my eyes, and heard with my ears, and I know 
them for truth. And I have arisen from their contemplation im- 
pressed with the conviction that in the increasing prevail ment of 
the Catholic Religion, lies the best safeguard for this great 
country of America against th'-i evils ^ both ■public cmd private, 
which spring from the excess oj liberty (the natural result of a 
Democracy ;) and from the unavoidable and conflicting differences 
which may in future rend asunder the golden chain of the 
Union. 

This interesting and most curious subject is capable of being 
extended through volumes ; to have dwelt upon it incidentally, 
through a few pages, is but to awaken without satisfying inquiry. 
I am not aware that any previous writer (for I have never read 
the works of any traveller whatever on America),* has taken 
the same views that I have here presented ; the popularity or 
unpopularity of these views affects me not ; the remarks which 
I have made presented themselves to my mind during my travels, 
and I narrate them simply and faithfully, indifferent to the 
criticisms they may provoke, or the surprise they may elicit. 
But the powers of a woman are inadequate to treat of matters so 
high and so profound. To some abler hand than mine I shall 
hope to see committed the more elaborate discussion of conside- 
rations and facts which, like these above referred to, involve the 
present and future destinies of an Empire. 

These introductory remarks will have assisted, in some mea- 
sure, to point out and explain the exalted station held by the 
Bishop of the Diocese of New York. He is the master mind of 
that Hierarchy which is the main instrument in producing the re- 
sults I have alluded to ; and I learned from the highest authority 
in Canada, that by the Ecclesiastical Court of Rome, he is consi- 
dered as the Right Arm of the Catholic Faith throughout the 

* The remarks of Mr. Wy se, alluded to in a previous page, I happened to alight 
upon in the Economist Newspaper, where they were publislied as Extracts. 



236 RIGHT REV. JOHN HUGHES, D.D. 

World, and that there is no Dignitary in the whole sphere of the 
Church whose movements are the subject of such intense and 
anxious interest as those of this modest, retiring, and illustrious 
Prelate. 

It is a common proverb that circumstance makes the hero ; but 
no circumstance has made the Bishop ; on the contrary, he has 
himself carved out the circumstance of his position. His native 
country* is oppressed ; his Religion persecuted ; his birth ob- 
scure, and friends unknown ; no great event presented to his am- 
bition the means and opportunity of self-elevation ; genius and 
poverty were his only portion ; but " sweet are the uses of adver- 
sity ;" the apparent drawbacks became the stepping-stones of his 
advancement; he cast behind him persecution and obscurity, and 
in the unconscious nobleness and enthusiasm of his youth, he 
sought and found a sphere worthy of his life and of his virtue. 
Mere change of country is all the circu7nstance that has befriend- 
ed his lot; and it is to his own indefatiirable self-subduing mind 
that we must attribute his progressive fortunes ; his comprehen- 
sive faculties at once grappled with his position, and the laborious 
but exemplary labours which it involved ; and every energy has 
been applied to the vast range of duty which he has allotted as 
his own appointed task. No man ever struggled for an earthly, 
as he for a heavenly, crown. 

Evil and ill-informed men have, for their own purposes, ac- 
cused him of attempts to mingle in politics, because he dared to 
assert, in free America, the civil and religious privileges of his 
people. f Cruel attacks were made upon his character, and had 

* Ireland. 

t To avoid prolixity, the whole case is resolved into the following brief 
statement. Bishop Hughes addressed the Scliool Commissioners of New 
York, and requested, as the guardian of the faith of Catholic children, that 
the Bible, that is, the version of King James, or as it is commonly called, the 
Protestant Bible, might not be used for a reading book in the Public Schools; 
and that if it would not be dispensed with, that then, as the Catholic popula- 
tion were taxed to support the system, he might be allowed to have them 
separately instructed, and be allowed the same sum for the education of 
Catholic children as was paid by the public for the instruction of the others. 
This is a fair, honest statement of the request. Bishop Hughes did not ask 
that the Catholic Bible (the Douay) should be introduced instead of that of 
King James. He never intimated such a thing. He asked that his children 
might not be compelled to listen to the reading of a version of the Bible which 
lie considered incorrect ; he did not require that the Vulgate should be used, 
but he presented the request that he might remove the Catholic scholars from 
the Public Schools, promising to have them fully educated in all the secular 
branches, and that he should have an appropriation, "per cajnta, et pro rata, 
with the public expense of teaching. 

This communication of the Right Rev. Gentleman fanned into a more 



RIGHT RCV. JOHN HUGHES, D.D. 237 

he not been steeled in conscious rectitude, his sensitive nature 
must have sunk beneath these ungenerous insinuations. Seven 
successive days saw him sustaining the unequal contest, for his 
single voice was opposed to multitudes ; but the cause was right- 
eous, and affected the Salvation of his flock ; and neither intole- 
rance nor bigotry were suffered to prevail against him. He was 
triumphant in the result of every argument, and left his opponents 
equally dismayed and humiliated by his talents and his victory. 
His constancy is equal to his courage, and were the same ordeal 
to be repeated, this brave Priest would be found, despite injurious 
calumny and bigoted opposition, firm at the post of danger and of 
honour. 

But these events developed the vast influence he possesses, by 
the singling out of parties, and by showing in bold and striking 
relief the ascendency of the magnificent Prelate; men were sud- 
denly awakened and surprised into a sense of his overwhelming 
authority. 

Venal minds are incapable of comprehending the possession 
and consciousness of power as distinct from its exercise or its 
abuse ; and the host of political intriguers at once inferred that, 
the Bishop being all-poiuerful^ must, of necessity, be all-mu- 
chievous. Selfish and active demonstration is, in their crude 
apprehension, the sole attribute of dominion ; they cannot under- 
stand that Power does oft-times love to slumber ; that to forbear 
is mightier than to execute; — to will, than to act; that the first 
is the prerogative of the Supreme ; the second the portion of the 
delegate. In their vulgar, self-instructed capacity, they judged 
the Bishop ; and presumed that he would bow his Mitre before 
the God of their vile world, and bend his Crozler at the altar of 
their base Mammon. 

The glorious Prelate heard these false charges with pity and 
disgust ; he kept his own high way, and turned not to the right 
hand, neither to the left. Disdaining to reply to his injurious 
accusers, he appealed, in dignity and in respect, to the candid, 
enlightened, and generous spirit of the people of America ; and 

furious flame the war which had already been waged against the Roman 
Catholics. The School Commissioners declined granting tiie prayer of the 
Bishop, and it was finally referred to the decision of the ballot box, or a 
popular election. '* Protestantism and No Popery" became arrayed against 
" Catholicism and Bishop Hughes," and the struggle was warm and ani- 
mated. Its final issue was the granting of the petition of Bisliop Hughes; 
and the Catholic children are now educated separately. — Extract from a 
Pamphlet entitled " The Truth Unveiled^''' by a Protestant and a Native 
Philadelphian. 



238 RIGHT REV. JOHN HUGHES, D.D. 

thus, before a righteous and august Tribunal, he pleaded for 
himself: — 

" My public and private life has been devoted sedulously to the 
duties of my station. 

" I have never, in my life, done any action, or uttered any 
sentiment, tending to abridge a human being of all or any of the 
Rights of Conscience, which I claim to enjoy myself, under the 
American Constitution. 

" I have never asked or wished, that any denomination should 
be deprived of the Bible, or such version of the Bible, as that de- 
nomination conscientiously approved — in our Common or Public 
Schools. 

" / have never entered into intrigue^ or coUusioti ivith any 
political j»«/'^?/, or hidividual — and no political party ^ or indi- 
vidual^ ever o.pproached me with so insulting a proposition. 

" In all my public life in New York, I have done no action — 
uttered no sentiment, unworthy of a Christian Bishop and an 
American citizen. 

" I have always contended for the Right of Conscience, for all 
men, as universally as they are recognised in the American 
Constitution. 

" I have always preached that every denomination, Jews, 
Christians, Catholics, Protestants, of every sect and shade, were 
all entitled to the entire enjoyment of the Freedom of Conscience, 
without let or hindrance, from any other denomination, or set of 
denominations — no matter how small their number, or how un- 
popular the doctrines they professed. 

" I have always preached, both publicly and privately, the 
Christian obligation o'i p)eace and good will toward all onen, even 
when they hate and persecute us. 

"I have been accustomed to pray publicly, in our churches, 
for the constituted authorities of the United States ; for the wel- 
fare of my fellow-citizens of all denominations, and without dis- 
tinction. 

" I have never given but one vote since I became a citizen, and 
that on an occasion wholly unimportant. 

" I have never, in the whole course of my life, influenced my 
people, either individually or collectively, in their vote. 

"You, who must know something of human nature, need not 
be informed, that in all social outbreaks, particularly of a riotous 
character, the moral incendiary first fires the passions, and then 
the victims of those inflamed passions are prepared to apply the 
torch, or wield the murderous instrument against the objects of 
their fury. 



RIGHT REV. JOHN HUGHES, D.D. 289 

" Alas ! alas ! that men cannot be content to worship God ac- 
cording to the dictates of their conscience, without preventing 
their fellow-mortals from enjoying the same privilege. On the 
school question, nothing more than the recognised legal Rights 
of Conscience has been claimed for the Catholic children. These 
rights, the Catholics, even under the most intolerant Govern- 
ments, have never given up, and never will relinquish. They 
have been deprived of them by intolerant laws. If (he American 
people are willing to enact such laws, we shall submit to pains 
and penalties. We interfere with no other denomination of citi- 
zens — we wish them to enjoy the same privileges that we claim 
for ourselves. Is not this the principle of the American Govern- 
ment? Is it not the pride, and the boast, and the glory of the 
American people? And if it be all this, why is it that Americans 
are opposed to it? 

" I am not a man of strife and contention. My disposition is, 
I trust, both pacific and benevolent. As a proof of this, I may 
mention that I have never had a personal altercation with a 
human being in my life — that I have never had occasion to call 
others — or be called myself before any civil tribunal of the earth. 
It is true, that public duty has not unfrequently forced upon me 
the necessity of taking my stand in moral opposition to princi- 
ples which I deemed injurious and unjust. But even then, I 
trust, I have made the distinction which Christian feelini; sus- 
gests, between the cause and the person of the advocate arrayed 
against me. And though I have sometimes, perhaps, been se- 
vere on my opponents, I trust, that it proceeded not from any 
malice in the heart — it came on me rather as a species of intel- 
lectual indignation at witnessing bad logic employed to defend 
worse bigotry." 

It is said that the Bishop is a stern preacher in his pulpit, but 
a merciful Priest in his confessional. I have felt his influence in 
the one, and, strange to say, I have also felt it in the other. I 
have heard him reason of righteousness and judgment to come, 
until I have trembled as Felix before Paul ; and beside my couch 
of nervous, fevered anguish, promoted by many anxieties, he 
stood a ministering angel ; with that penetration which is the at- 
tribute of his order, he saw at once that the poor tortured body 
was afflicted by the excited mind ; and thus he reproved my 
vain, my murmuring, irritable temper: — "Does this become a 
Christian lady? Is this worthy of one who is a wife and mother 
in Israel? Is this the example you should place before your 
sons and your daughters ? Do you repine, even to sickness, be- 



240 RIGHT REV. JOHN HUGHES, D.D. 

cause you cannot possess, this hour, the trifle that you have fixed 
your heart upon 1 Think on this folly, think on this ingratitude, 
and repress that fretful and unwomanly temper, and determine 
to subdue it ; and to-morrow you shall arise from this bed in 
health and peace." And the Bishop left me to reflection ; and 
in the morning I arose in health, and, 1 hope, improved in virtue. 
His preaching is very impressive ; and his voice, language, and 
manner, are all excellent. I could occasionally detect a dash of 
the soft dialect of his country in his flexible and varied tones. 
His action is subdued by good taste, and is wholly subservient to 
the dignity of his subject. Of course, his discourses are extem- 
pore. 

To me the daily intercourse of a Priest was in itself a novelty, 
and I examined into his character, and analyzed its component 
parts, with the intense curiosity of a child struck at the sight of 
a flower he has never seen before. It was charming to observe 
his dress and habits ; his violet robe, and garments of delicate 
lace,* his mystic signet ring of contrite amethyst, his chain and 
crucifix of gold. His manners so gentle, but so distant, so cour- 
teous, yet so reserved, seemed to me unusual and quite peculiar. 
His conversation is delightful, and he is singularly well informed 
on many subjects unconnected with his profession. The pictures 
of the Bishop have been chiefly painted since he became a " man 
of battle," and convey an impression of anxious, and somewhat 
stern deportment. There is one, however, of earlier date, by 
Neagle, in the house of the Jesuits of St. Joseph's, in Philadel- 
phia, where he long resided. The youthful Priest is painted in 
his robe of white and stole of silver ; the sacred book lies open 
before him ; the complexion is fair and ruddy ; the forehead 
thoughtful ; the lip severe ; the hair in profusion, light and curl- 
ing ; the countenance is benign, full of sweetness, and possessing 
that elevated and unearthy expression which is so frequent among 
the Superior Priesthood of the Catholic Church ; the picture re- 
minded me of the beloved Evangelist, whose name he bears. But 
changed is this face of youth and hope since he was torn from 
the peaceful labours of the cloister, and compelled to run the 
gauntlet through the ranks of prejudiced and angry politicians. 
It is now a face of care, of age, and sometimes of sufiering. The 
Bishop somewhat stoops, but not from age, for he has not yet 
numbered fifty winters ; nor from infirmity, for his make is mus- 
cular, though not of large proportions ; but study, prayer, and 

* I have understood that he has the peculiar and inherent love of fine 
linen, which often distinguishes men of exalted character. 



RIGHT REV. JOHN HUGHES, D.D. 241 

Other priestly duties have laid their impress on his frame ; and 
he yields not to the requirements made upon his time for needful 
repose, or ease ; " Sleep, nature's soft nurse," is oftentimes by 
him unsought ; his frugal meal is consumed in haste, like the 
Passover ; the heat of summer, and the cold of winter are both 
by him alike unheeded ; if the infant require baptism ; the young 
instruction ; the betrothed their marriage ; the pious their com- 
munion ; if the guilty desire to unburden his conscience, the 
penitent to be absolved from his sin, or the dying to be consoled 
with the last affecting sacrament of his religion ; for all and each 
of these, this Catholic Priest is ready and willing to devote each 
hour, to surrender all personal comfort, to risk his health or 
safety, and even to die in the fulfihp.ent of his duty. — And this 
is the universal spirit of the admirable Clergy, of which he is the 
Prototype. 

Each interview which I had with this singular and exalted per- 
sonage, was in itself an event, marked with new features ; and I 
never ceased to feel his superiority; he was ever one above me ; 
and I constantly recognised the influence which he is acknow- 
lodged to exercise over the minds of others. I have never known 
any man who possessed this inexplicable and mysterious element 
of power in so eminent a degree, and who used it so habitually 
and so unconsciously. None ever regarded him with indifference ; 
by some he is hated ; by some feared ; and by many loved ; but 
his name is never pronounced unattended by some striking and 
expressive epithet. I approach him with reverence and with dif- 
fidence, for separated from him by my Country, my Religion, and 
my sex, the usual intimacies of society never seemed in accord- 
ance with his station. Serene, apart, and passionless, — and high, 
and pure, and holy, I cannot mingle him with things material. 
Familiarity intrudes not into his presence; and worldly objects 
become divested of their importance, and sink into insignificance. 
Deeply conscious of the divinity of his mission, he clothes Reli- 
gion with majesty and beauty ; never have I discerned even a 
momentary weakness in his nature ; never heard an unguarded 
word escape his lips ; never, for an instant, beheld his reason 
unseated from her throne. An habitual elevation of mind and 
sentiment prevails in his discourse and correspondence ; and in 
all that concerns himself, may be remarked, the most refined and 
sensitive delicacy ; he shrinks vvith innate disgust from even the 
involuntary thought of a dereliction from the most scrupulous 
morality. The untrodden snow, fresh from the clouds of Heaven, 
is not more pure than is his conscience, nor more spotless than 

16 



242 RIGHT REV. JOHN HUGHES, D.D. 

the record of his life; and if human feeh'ng, with unbidden pre- 
sence, does sometimes penetrate the recesses of his bosom, it 
there is separated from earthly and corrupting influences, and 
becomes a heavenly sentiment. 

Among the few ordinary attributes of character which belong 
to him, are a certain love of adventure and admiration of the pic- 
turesque. He enjoys the Ocean and its dangers ; to him they 
are delight ; " As rises the tempest, so does my spirit." — " Nia- 
gara by moonlight, and the surrounding landscape crisped with 
hoary frost." — " I love my beautiful, tormented birthplace with 
fond, and pitying, and undying memory." — " Sweet to me were 
my years of study on the Mountain."* — " Lady, I would fain 
have been your companion on the Mississippi, and on the Great 
Lakes, and on the St. Lawrence; and, had I time, I should de- 
light to trace the footsteps of Cartier, Marquette, La Salle, and 
Hennepin ; to kneel before I die upon the soil hallowed by the 
labours, the success, the lives and martyrdom of the Jesuit Fa- 
thers, the chartered Nuncios of the Cross ; to look upon De 
Soto's grave ;f — each spot of earth washed by these Lakes and 
Streams, is classic ground to the Catholic." 

In May, 1846, the triennial Convention of the Catholic Church 
was held in Baltimore. The Bishop of New York at this time 
received an official communication from Washington to the effect 
that the Government required his presence on "affairs of State." 
As soon as he could be released from the arduous duties of the 
Convention, he obeyed the summons. On his arrival in the 
Metropolis, he was immediately introduced by the Secretary of 
State to the President, who received him with the highest dis- 
tinction, and at once carried him to the Cabinet Council then 
assembled. The Mission to Mexico was offered to his accept- 
ance. It is said that the wisdom and penetration of Buchanan 
suggested this statesmanlike step ; and that he discerned all the 
advantages that would accrue by appointing a Catholic Prelate 
of such distinction and influence, as Ambassador to Mexico. The 
Mexicans added to their other apprehensions of the consequences 
of a war with the Americans, that of a desecration of their tem- 
ples for the purpose of carrying away the precious vessels and 
ornaments belonging to the Altars. The presence of a high Dig- 

* Mount St. Mary's, Emmetsburg. 

t De Soto sleeps beneath the Mississippi ; he who had been the discoverer 
of the " Father of Waters" found a befitting- burial-place within his bosom. No 
soil of earth would have concealed his death so faithfully, nor guarded his 
memory so fondly, so sacredly, as the grateful river. 



RIGHT REV. JOHN HUGHES, D.D. 243 

nitary of their National Church, would have allayed this dread, 
sufficient of itself to rouse the indignation of a Catholic people. 
The Bishop unites with his Christian calling, all the distinguished 
properties necessary to meet an important crisis ; he can be as 
great a Statesman as he is a Priest. And there is no doubt that 
had this Mission been carried into eflcct, it would, under his 
auspices, have resulted in the pacific adjustment of all subjects 
of irritation between the belligerent Nations. 

The Bishop of Neio York is thus tJte first CatJioUc Dignitary 
ivlio lias ever been called to the Councils of the United States.* 
This incident derives peculiar interest, from the historical remi- 
niscences which it awakens, of ecclesiastical Ambassadors em- 
ployed between the different courts of Europe; and at this mo- 
ment, when men and nations seek to tarnish and vilify the name 
of Priest, the bold and unusual step taken by Mr. Buchanan ex- 
hibits his moral courage, and his manly confidence in the most 
honourable light. 2%e Mission would hojve been as successful 
as it IV as august. 

I saw the distino-uished Prelate the mornino; after his return 
from Washington; he was gratified by the confidence reposed in 
his talents and patriotism, and touched by the conduct of Bu- 
chanan ; but no desire existed in his mind to go to Mexico ; to 
have left his Diocese would have been painful and inconvenient ; 
and he sought no personal consideration from the Mission. " As 
a citizen of the United States I am bound to serve my country 
with all the energies that I possess; and as a Christian Bishop I 
am bound to be the Messenger of Peace; but I have no favours 
to ask from any, and I have important objects to fulfil at home." 

Politically, as well as morally, he strongly condemned the 
Mexican War,*]" and to me he has repeatedly, from first to last, 

* The excellent and amiable Dr. Carroll, the first Archbishop of Baltimore, 
accompanied Dr. Benjamin Franklin, Mr. Chase, and Mr. Carroll of (^arroll- 
ton, on a Mission to Canada ; but not in an official capacity. 

t It is a curious feature in the history of the Mexican war, that the Ro- 
man Catholic Volunteers deserted from the United States' army. The Ad- 
ministration requested the Bishop of New York to send down Chaplains. 
He at once complied, and in two or three days the Rev. Mr. M'EIroy, of the 
Jesuits' College at Georgetown, was on his way to Mexico. This excellent 
personage is sixty-eight years of age, but ready for service, and was accom- 
panied by a brother priest of less advanced years. The venerable Mrs. Ma- 
dison, wliose name is heard throughout the United States with affection and 
respect, had for many years been acquainted with Mr. M'EIroy. She gave 
him letters of introduction to General Taylor, of whom she is a relative, and 
the Catholic Chaplains were received by him with every mark of respect. 
Since their arrival in the camp no more deserters have been reported. 

The Bishop was also applied to for Chaplains for the Navy— he replied 



244 RIGHT REV. JOHN HUGHES, D.D. 

prophesied its expense, duration, and perplexities. " Their irre- 
gular warfare," said he, " will harass the Americans, and Mexi- 
co, in all human probability, never will be conquered. The 
Mexicans have Spanish blood in their veins." So far as politics 
are admitted into his thoughts, the Bishop is a Conservative, and 
inclined to the principles of Mr. Clay; they are the appropriate 
principles of his order. Owing, I suspect, to his twelve years' 
residence in Philadelphia, he is attached to Protection. 

On the question of Slavery, the Bishop takes neutraU or rather 
Scriptural, ground ; he looks upon it as a subject entirely re- 
moved from the jurisdiction and interference of the Clergy of all 
denominations. 

On the 14th July, the Doctor and I were present at the open- 
ing of the College of St. John's, at Fordham, about ten miles from 
New York. This Institution is indebted to the Bishop alone for 
its existence; he purchased the land and buildings, and improved 
them; he had for three or four years sedulously attended to its 
progress, but becoming at length too deeply engaged in the other 
duties of his Diocese, he invited over a Society of Jesuits, chiefly 
from Bardstovvn, in Kentucky ; and it was on this occasion that 
he confided his charge into their practised hands. The Bishop, 
in resigning his trust, announced that he had obtained a Charter 
of Incorporation for the College, from the State Government. 
" This Charter," added he, " was signed unanimously by the 
Legislature of New York. Let no man henceforward assert that 
the Americans have refused to the Catholics, the equal privi- 
leges of citizens. — Let no man say they do not love them." The 
scene of the College and grounds is very beautiful, an opening in 
the midst of fine forest trees ; a running stream is near ; the 
buildings are handsome and capacious ; the exterior of the Chapel 
is in excellent taste, and there are some fine painted glass win- 
dows. The Ecclesiastical Seminary is very complete, being di- 
vided into separate apartments ; and already there is a good 
library. The Bishop is occupied in the formation of a Picture 
Gallery at this College, which will, I believe, be the first attempt 
ever made of the kind in America. We penetrated into the Re- 
treat, or private apartment of this excellent person, to which, in 
obedience with the observances of his Church, he retires at stated 
periods to perform private acts of devotion, to commune with his 
own heart, and with Him who seeth in secret. The sole orna- 

that " at present the appointment would be a sinecure ; but that whenever 
the Navy should be called into action, the Chaplains should be ready." 



RIGHT REV. JOHN HUGHES, D.D. 345 

monts are the Sacred Volume, and several books of devotion, 
chiefly in the Latin tongue. The walls are hung with fine en- 
gravings of sacred subjects ; the few articles of domestic use are 
of the simplest form and fashion. But the spot is hallowed by 
the humble prayers and inward meditations of one who, upon 
earth, is the " observed of all observers." In this solitude he ac- 
quires that strength which enables him to be all-sufllcient for the 
innumerable and incessant demands made upon him by his peo- 
ple for aid and counsel. 

The Bishop is by birth an alien in the land he lives. To the 
persecutions of England against Ireland, is America indebted for 
this loyal, and illustrious citizen, whose life and calling exert so 
extraordinary and advantageous an influence on her moral, so- 
cial, and rehgious character ; nor for him alone, but for many 
other of the pillars of this Religion. That melancholy, which is 
the inheritance of the stranger, may be traced in the character 
of Dr. Hughes ; and it subdues many traits which otherwise 
would be prominent in his varied mind ; the love of music, of re- 
fined society, strong powers of imagination, a shade of irony, and 
a graceful vein of humour. All these are only called into play 
l)y accidental circumstances or allusions, and on rare occasions. 
But perhaps that very melancholy which veils their lustre is the 
most endearing trait which dwells in the wounded, and weary, 
and often broken heart of the exile. The poet has divined and 
allotted his sole consolation — 

" This must my comfort be, 

That sun that warms you there shall shine on me ; 
And those his golden beams to you there lent, 
Shall point on me, and gild my banishment." 

On the first of August the Doctor and I took passage in the 
Great Britain steamship, to seek our home once more. The 
Bishop remained with me during the last hour I lingered on the 
soil of America. We spoke of those I went to seek, of those I 
left behind ; of our own separate countries, religion, character, 
and destiny ; in all of these, each was essentially removed Irom 
the other. We spoke of our sudden and brief acquaintance, of 
our hasty, though enduring friendship ; — and marvelled if we 
might meet again on this side of the grave ; and 1 breathed my 
hope that in the hour of departure to the home of my spirit, though 
I am a stranger to his faith, he might be near to minister to my 
dying weakness, and to comfort those that will weep around my 
couch ; and the Priest pledged his sacred word, if still he breathes 



246 RIGHT REV. JOHN HUGHES, D.D. 

the breath of life, if time and distance may by man be overcome ; 
— that in that hour he will be with me. * * 

'Tf- vt* vt' TP W Ts* 

And the Bishop bade me kneel ; — and I knelt beside him, — he 
laid his hand upon my head, — and then from his Hps gushed 
forth in mingled power and beauty, the full strong tide of human 
affection ; in accents strange and new, for I had dreamed not of 
the love that I had won from that exalted nature ; — and with fal- 
tering voice he blessed me and my way, and those that I held 

dear, to him unknown ; and for many minutes he was 

silent, — but the vows, unheard by me, were accepted at the throne 
of Him who rideth on the whirlwind, and whosaith to the waters, 
" Peace be still." 

In health and safety the gallant but devoted vessel conveyed 
me and my son to the shores of England. 



EXTRACT FROM 
A LETTER TO THE HONOURABLE JAMES HARPER, 

Mayor of New York. 

Sir, — I am in the receipt of a letter from a young " Native 
American," signed with his proper name, in which he advises 
me, that he has provided himself with a " poniard," by which I 
am " to bite the dust." If he had not put his name to this docu- 
ment I should have destroyed it, as my rule is with all anony- 
mous communications, without even glancing at its contents. I 
cannot answer such a correspondent ; but, placing his letter in 
your hands, if you wish it, I shall pursue the even tenor of my 
way, to be found wherever my duties as a Catholic Bishop, and 
a citizen of the United States, require me to be. I hope that I 
am at peace with God — know that I am at peace, so far as in me 
lies, with all men ; and thus, I am ready to yield my life into the 
hands of its adorable Author, when, and as. He may dispose. 

But if my correspondent should execute his own prophecy, as 
he says, I deem it proper to have put on record such matters as 
are due to my reputation, and to my country, at a moment like 
the present. I shall be somewhat tedious, but I bespeak your 
patience, for I wish to say all, and it may not be so convenient 
at another time. I shall use no term of reproach or bitterness, in 
reference to matters of recent occurrence, on which too many 



RIGHT REV. JOHN HUGHES, D.D. 247 

here have already been uttered. No man deplores more deeply 
the melancholy results of intemperate discussion, whether on one 
side or on the other, in a sister capital, than I do ; and for 
months past it has been my study to avert similar scenes in this 
city. From the moment when a new party was commenced, 
based on the principle of hostility to a |)articular religion and to 
foreigners, even the naturalized, I anticipated the results with the 
deepest apprehension, for the peace of the community and the 
honour of the country. Not that I dispute the right of men, in 
the abstract, to form themselves into combinations on any prin- 
ciple, which their duty to their country sanctions ; but topics of 
this description were, as I conceived, too exciting in their nature. 
From a very early period I prevented the only papers which 
affect to represent Catholic interests, from opposing either the 
principles or the progress of the party. When the private inte- 
rests, or enterprise of individuals urged them to establish news- 
papers, intended expressly to oppose the progress of " Native 
Americanism," and to uphold the constitutional rights of foreign- 
ers, of all religions, I peremptorily refused to give either patron- 
age or approbation — foreseeing, as I imagined, to what point such 
antagonism must lead. I even caused certain articles to be pub- 
lished, which should fall under the eyes of a large portion of my 
own flock, and which might caution them against the temptation 
of retaliating insult, in arraying themselves in opposition to the 
princij)les of this new party. I caused them to be thus reminded 
that, if those principles were wrong, time and the good sense of 
the community would be the best remedy; while Catholics, and 
above all Irish Catholics, were entirely unfitted to apply a cor- 
rective. I had the consolation to witness the good effects of this 
advice, so that boys and young men could march, even in the 
night, through streets almost entirely occupied by Irish Catholics, 
with fife and drum before them, and with illumined banners 
bearing such inscriptions as that of " No Popery," as a public 
and political device. It is not for me to say whether the Native 
American party had, or had not, a right to adopt such devices, 
and to display them through such a population. But even sup- 
posing they had the right, was there not something due to the 
weakness of poor human nature ? — to the religious rights and 
feelings of men under our Constitution? — to the peculiar suscep- 
tibility of the Irish, and especially in reference to this identical 
subject, which reminded them of the hereditary degradation from 
which they thought to have escaped when they touched these 
shores ? 



248 RIGHT REV. JOHN HUGHES, D.D. 

I am grateful to Almighty God, that notwithstanding these in- 
judicious exhibitions, no accident or disturbance has occurred 
during the progress of the movements which have placed you in 
your present honourable station. And I would to God ! that 
under all provocation, a similar forbearance had been practised 
in Philadelphia. Yet, notwithstanding all my solicitude and 
efforts, so feverish and morbid, so bewildered and diseased, had 
the public mind become, in certain quarters, on the subject of 
Popery, that a lie of not more than five lines, circulated throuo-h 
any of our papers which might desire to create riots, would have 
been sufficient to have produced the most fearful results. 

My name and character were assailed in every public meeting 
of your special constituents. I was abused as a politician ; — as 
a meddler with the laws ; — as an intriguer with parties ; and a 
man not only capable, but actually designing to invade the liber- 
ties of the country. The fearful crisis, which I claim the merit 
of having prevented, in this city, but which has left its melan- 
choly stigma in another city, equally dear to me, has rendered 
these calumnies against my character so important, that I now 
meet my accusers in the triumphant manner which you will see, 
before the close of this communication. But before I enter fur- 
ther upon my subject, I must tell you a few words respecting 
myself, which, being of so little importance to the public at large, 
I shall make as brief as possible. It is twenty-seven years since 
I came to this country. I became a citizen, therefore, as soon 
as my majority of age and other circumstances permitted. My 
early ancestors were from Wales ; and very possibly shared 
with Strongbow and his companions, in the plunder which re- 
warded the first successful invaders of lovely, but unfortunate 
Ireland. Of course, from the time of their conversion from 
Paganism, they were Catholics. You, sir, who must be ac- 
quainted with the melancholy annals of religious intolerance in 
Ireland, may remember that, when a traitor to his country, and 
for what I know, to his creed also, M'lVIahon, Prince of Monna- 
ghan, wished to make his peace with the Irish Government of 
Queen Elizabeth, the traitor's work which he volunteered to ac- 
complish was " to root out the whole Sept of the Hughes.'''' He 
did not, however, succeed in destroying them, although he 
" rooted them out ;" proving, as a moral for future times, that 
persecution cannot always accomplish what it proposes. In the 
year 1817, a descendant of the Sept of the Hughes, came to the 
United States of America. He was the son of a farmer of mode- 
rate but comfortable means. He landed on these shores friend- 



RIGHT REV. JOHN HUGHES, D.D. 249 

less, and with but a few guineas in his purse. Tie never re- 
ceived of the charity of any man ; he never borrowed of any 
nnan without repaying; he never had more than a few dollars at 
a time ; he never had a patron, in the Church or out of it ; and 
it is he who has the honour to address you now, as Catholic 
Bishop of New York. 

I entered the College* the first day, an utter stranger to Bishop 
Dubois until then. I was to superintend the garden, as a com- 
pensation for my expenses in the house, until a vacancy should 
occur, by which I might be appointed a teacher for such classes 
as I should be fit to take charge of. I continued in this way, 
during the first nine months of my stay at the College, prose- 
cuting my studies under a private preceptor. The rest of my 
time, between seven and eight years, I continued to prosecute my 
own studies, and at the same time, to teach the classes that were 
assigned to me. At the end of that period, I was ordained Priest, 
and stationed in Philadelphia. Here my public life commenced. 
After eleven years from this time, I was sent, not by my own 
choice, to be the Assistant Bishop of New York. I had formed, 
during these years, friendships ever to be cherished, in many of 
the most respectable families, Protestant as well as Catholic, in 
Philadelphia. I refer to them, without distinction of creed, for 
what was mv character, as a clersvnian and as a citizen. If, 
sir, you will weigh all these circumstances, you will perceive im 
mediately, that were I a person of the character assigned to me 
in the late denunciations of those who assail me, it is hardly pro 
bable that I should be now occupying, by the judgment of others 
the situation in which I am placed. I am a citizen. I under 
stand the rights of a citizen, and the duties also. I understand 
the genius, and Constitution, and history of the country. My 
feelings, and habits, and thoughts, have been so much identified 
with all that is American, that I had almost forgotten I was a 
foreigner, until recent circumstances have brought it too painfully 
to my recollection. This, and other matters yet to be treated of, 
must be my apology for bringing into public notice any thing so 
uninteresting as my personal or private aflairs. The retrospect, 
however, has brought back to my mind the recollections of youth. 
I perceived then that the intolerance of my own country had left 
me no inheritance, except that of a name which, though humble, 
was untarnished. In the future, the same intolerance was a bar- 
rier to every hope in my native land ; and there was but one 

* The Theological Seminary at Mount St. Mary's, near Emmetsburg, 
Maryland. This Institution is under the charge of the Sulpicians. 



250 RIGHT REV. JOHN HUGHES, D.D. 

Other country in M^hich I was led to believe the rights and privi- 
leges of citizens rendered all men equal. 1 can even now re- 
member my reflections on first beholding the American flag. It 
never crossed my mind that a time might come, when that flag, 
the emblem of the freedom just alluded to, should be divided, by 
apportioning its stars to the citizens of native birth, and its stripes 
only as the portion of the foreigner. I was, of course, but young 
and inexperienced ; and yet, even recent events have not dimi- 
nished my confidence in that ensign of civil and religious liberty. 
It is possible that I was mistaken ; but still I clung to the delusion, 
if it be one, and as I trusted to that flag, on a Nation'' s faith, I 
think it more likely that its stripes will disappear altogether ; and 
that before it shall be employed as an instrument of bad faith, 
toward the foreigners of every land, the white portions will blush 
into crimson ; and then the glorious stars alone will remain. — 
New York, llth May, 1844. 



THE CORPS DIPLOMATIQUE. 



It may be remarked, that the Corps Diplomatique, resident at 
Washington, have not been alluded to in the preceding pages. 
It is equally due to the respect which I owe to the people of 
America, and to myself, to mention, that I carried out letters of 
introduction from Lord Aberdeen, the then Secretary of State for 
Foreign Affairs, in London, to Mr. Pakenham. These letters 
were procured at the personal request of Lord Sandon, and, I 
believe, were drawn in the most favouring terms. I called twice 
on Mr. Pakenham, on affairs of business, once accompanied by 
my son, and once by Governor Seward, of New York. We 
found him civil, and he made an offer of his services. But I was 
in high hands, and required them not. The President himself, 
the Secretary of State, and every American took care of me. 

I never became acquainted with any other Minister or Ambas- 
sador, with the exception of M. Serruys, the Belgian I\Iinister, 
whom I had the pleasure of meeting at the house of the late 
General Van Ness. 

The time has arrived when the Courts of Europe will find it 
imperative upon them to send to Washington their most talented, 
influential, and popular Statesmen as their Representatives. 



ON COMMERCE. 



The following pages were written at the request of a lady, who 
one day asked me " What is Free Trade?" Before presenting 
her with this reply, I submitted it to the scrutiny of Mr. Calhoun, 
who returned it with an approval, and an assurance that the 
"doctrines were all quite sound." He had added nought thereto 
— neither diminished aught therefrom. Perhaps a few of my 
readers may feel the same interest in it that my American friend 
expressed. 



"WHAT IS FREE TRADE?" 



Commerce is an affair of climate; — and the Sun, the dissemi- 
nator of light and heat is its regulating power. These gifts of 
his are dispensed in various degrees of duration and intensity, 
according to the various positions of the countries of the globe. 
This is a law of nature. In like manner soil and production are 
suited to each other, and to the position or climate which they 
occupy upon the earth. This also is a law of nature. 

"God Almighty first planted a garden;" and the first pursuit 
of an infant people is Agriculture. Until that period arrives, 
when, owing to the improvements in agriculture, b. portion of the 
people is able to cultivate sufficient for the consumption of the 
wliole^ so long must the inhabitants of any country continue to be 
purely agricultural; and so long must they remain satisfied with 
the products of their own soil. But when population increases, 
and labour becomes redundant, adventure commences, and Com- 
merce begins to occupy a portion of their attention ; then they 
seek the variety of productions which is found in other countries. 
They exchange their own abundant and familiar articles for the 
novelties of another land. This Barter was originally and prac- 
tically Free Trade., in its earliest and simplest form. It supposed 
and developed not only the obvious advantage arising from a 
mere exchange of commodities, but the late7it advantage resulting 
from the profitable employment of the (otherwise useless) surplus 
home production, in procuring the surplus of foreign production. 
This lateiit profit is the vital principle of commerce. 

By degrees the system became more artificial ; the amount of 
late7it profit began to be calculated, and to be expressed by money, 
the constituted representative of value. Its accumulations formed 
the nucleus and increase of capital, which speedily became the 
prime mover and lever of all commerce. 

Then men, and nations, and governments, perceiving the ad- 
vantages of capital and its results — greedy of gain themselves, 
and jealous of the gains of others — imposed duties and restrictions 



254 "WHAT IS FREE TRADE?" 

on commodities, both imported and exported, that they might thus 
be enabled to employ their own capital to greater advantage. 
These imposts unavoidably became, in time, from various con- 
tingencies, unjust and impolitic in their application, corrupt and 
partial in their exercise, and injurious and fatal in their eifects. It 
has been found necessary, for this cause aloyie^ to remove many 
such restrictions. Of this nature of relief is the repeal of the 
Corn importing Laws in England. 

But restriction has arisen from another cause. When Agri- 
culture and Barter become insufficient for the progressive deve- 
lopement of a nation's energies, invention is awakened, and manu- 
factures spring up. Individuals employ their talents, risk their 
wealth, and bestow their time on machinery and its results. 
New sources are discovered, which will contribute to the pros- 
perity of all. But the enterprise and sagacity of the pioneers in 
the way deserve reward; and the imposition of duties on the same 
species of manufactured articles imported from other countries, 
in order to procure an abundant market and higher prices for the 
home manufacturer, is equally wise and just. But in process of 
time, this home manufacturer will have reaped the well-earned 
and liberal reward of his exertions; and then the people should 
be permitted to share in the good which the individual has hitherto 
derived from his privileges. Nor is this a concession on the part 
of the monopolist, but a right on the part of the people. The 
multitude have a common portion with him in the country, in the 
material, and in the government, which has awarded to him, for 
a definite period, exclusive advantages. The Law of Monopoly, 
like the Law of Patent, is designed, ultimately, to benefit the 
multitude; and, like the Law of Patent, restricts the period of in- 
dividual privilege to a term sufficient for just and faithful repay- 
ment of the enterprise, talent, time, and capital, which have been 
expended in some novel and beneficial discovery or invention. 

That term expired, that repayment made, the people claim the 
restoration of their own inherent right in the invention or im- 
provement. They have now purchased it, and paid for it ; and 
it has become, both according to law and equity, a vested right. 
In this position are the manufacturers and the people of the 
United States at the present moment. The manufacturers have 
been amply reimbursed, and justice and policy and honesty alike 
require that they should at once give up their protective privileges. 

The objections to Free Trade on the score of Government 
Revenue are utterly fallacious. The necessities of the British 
Government are incomparably greater than those of the United 



"WHAT IS FREE TRADE?" 



255 



States Government ; and the experience of England, since her 
adoption of the non-restrictive policy, has been found, in every 
article, entirely in favour of the abolition of protective duties. 
Such, doubtless, will also be the result in the United States ; for 
her manufactures are now too firmly established to be injured by 
any importations of manufactured articles from England or else- 
w^here ; they are full of strength and vitality, and may set their 
competitors at defiance. Besides, it is a self-evident fact, admit- 
ting of no evasion, of no argument, of no denial, that America 
can afford to be a Free Trader better than anv nation of the 
earth; because her natural j>roduce exceeds her consumption; 
and, therefore, she must of necessity be the gainer. 

But, in addition to the above incontrovertible reason, there are 
many others, equally important and convincing; and. 

Firstly, — The Southern States of America contain, to the ex- 
clusion of all other countries, the staple of the whole manufactu- 
ring world. The Planters of Cotton regulate, in a great measure, 
the internal peace of England ; and they form the basis of all the 
manufacturing prosperity of America. The Southern States are 
the " thews and sinews" of the New England States ; and they 
have the right, as well as the power (if they chose to exert it) of 
compelling a reduction in the Tariff; for where would be those 
boasted factories, without the commodity to be manufactured ? 
These powerful controllers of the manufacturing interests require 
to send their surplus cotton and corn to England; and they there- 
fore demand that England shall be induced to receive these pro- 
ductions, by the permission to exchange for them, on fair terms, 
her manufactured articles. This exchange is obviously less 
favourable to England than to the cotton-o;rowinfT States ; be- 
cause, the first cost of the natural produce is less than the first 
cost of manufactured articles ; consequently, the latent profit must 
be greater on the former than on the latter. 

Secondly, — The Manufactures of the United States can now 
stand alone, independently of their foster nurse, the high Tariff. 
They are old enough, and strong enough, to derive more benefit 
from competition, than from a superfluous and unprofitable guar- 
dianship. 

Thirdly, — Because now is the appointed time. England has 
opened her ports ; let America hasten to pursue the advantages 
offered by this measure of sound policy. In the wise allotments 
of nature, it will be found that she has distributed her good gifts 
equally, though variously, throughout the earth ; leaving it to 
Man's mutual goodwill and usefulness so to interchange them 



256 "WHAT IS FREE TRADE?" 

that all collectively may share in those blessings which she has 
bestowed on each severally. And it is a fact admitting of ma- 
thematical demonstration, that the annual average production of 
food on the earth is in exact proportion to the wants of the aggre- 
gate number of the inhabitants thereof. The capabilities of Ame- 
rica to furnish bread stuffs are exhaustless ; those of England are 
limited. Let England, therefore, cease to torture her soil into 
the production of grain, which her climate refuses to ripen, and 
let her import it from the granaries of the West. Let her arable 
lands again become pasture fields, their legitimate and natural 
state ; let her farmers return to the dairy and the feeding of 
cattle, and let her labouring classes partake of pure butter and 
cheese, and fresh and invio;oratin2: beef and mutton. Of all 
articles of consumption, grain sustains the least injury from 
transportation, and animal food the most. 

Fourthly, — The inland or domestic trade of the United States 
is far more extensive and more profitable than her foreign trade 
— because it is wholly unrestricted. Let foreign trade, therefore, 
be allowed the same encouragement. 

Fifthly, — There is yet another consequence attendant upon 
Free Trade, and one which may be regarded as a recommenda- 
tion in all countries, but especially where a republican government 
prevails. This is the equalization of commercial profits. The 
oligarchical influence will in a great measure be destroyed, and a 
greater number will become moderate partakers in those benefits 
which have hitherto accrued, in such vast disproportion, to the 
few holders of extensive capital. 

To conclude, — the Principles of Free Trade emanate alike 
from the Laws of Nature, and from the conclusions deduced by 
Philosophy from those laws ; and, moreover, they can be clearly 
and immediately traced to the Ordinations of Providence. The 
advocate of these principles legislates not for the partial, but for 
the universal benefit of mankind : he would dispense, through 
the medium of commerce, " the great Civilizer," the blessings of 
Religion, Morality, Abundance, and Peace throughout all ages 
yet to come. If any measure of political wisdom can perpetuate 
the present prosperity of America ; if any effort of human legisla- 
tion can renew the energies of England, it is the emancipation of 
commerce from the barbarism and bondage of the false and 
injurious system of Protective duties. 



*o" 



THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 



The followinsf statistics of the Catholic Church of Orcfron will 
be read with interest: — 

VICARIATE OF OREGON. 

This territory was erected into an Apostolic Vicariate, by his 
Holiness Gregory XVI, on the 1st of December, 1843, and Rev. 
F. N. Blanchet, missionary in that country, was appointed Vicar 
Apostolic. His consecration took place at Montreal, about the 
middle of last year. 

There are fourteen Chapels, viz. : two in the Willamette Valley; 
one at Vancouver ; one at Cowlitz ; one at Whitbay ; two in New 
Caledonia ; four among the Flat Head Indians — St. Mary's, St. 
Joseph's, St. Peter's, St. Michael's ; one at Oregon city ; one at 
Yamhill, and one at Tvvalate. The three last are for the accom- 
modation of settlers from the United States, many of whom are 
Catholics, and others disposed to embrace the faith. These 
various missions are served by the following clergymen : — 

Right Rev. F. N. Blanchet, D. D. Vicar Ajwstolic. 

Very Rev. Modest Demers, Vicar General^ and Administrator 
durino- Dr. Blanchet's absence. 



Rev= Accolti, Michael, 
De Smet, Peter J. 
De Vos, Peter, 
Hoecken, Adrian, 
Joset, Joseph, 
Mengarini, Gregory, 
Nobili, John, 



Rev. Point, Nicholas, 
Ravalli, Anthony, 
Sodcrini, Tiberius, 
Vereruysse, Aloysius, 
Zerbinatti, Peter, 
Bolduc, John Baptist, 
Langlois, Anthony. 



17 



258 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 

All the above-mentioned gentlemen are members of the Society 
of Jesus, with the exception of the two last named, and the Very 
Rev. Mr. Demers. The Superior of the Jesuits in Oregon resides 
at Willamette. 

The institutions that have been commenced in Oregon, consist 
— 1. Of an Academy at St. Mary's, among the Flat Heads; 2. 
Of a College at Willamette ; and 3. Of an Academy for Girls, 
at the same place, under the charge of six Sisters of Notre Dame. 
The Superior is Sister Loyola. Other establishments have been 
set on foot. 

The total number of savages in the territory is about 110,000, 
of whom six thousand have been converted to the true faith. The 
number of Catholics among the settlers amounts to about 1,500, 
most of whom are Canadians. 

RECAriTULATION. 

Chapels 14 

Clergymen 16 

Academies 3 

Religious institutions 1 

Catholic population, about 7500 



THE MEXICAN WAR. 



The War between the United States and Mexico arose from 
various subjects of just complaint on the part of the United 
States against Mexico. I have traced these complaints in the 
Presidential Messages of Monroe, John Quincy Adams, General 
Jackson, and Martin Van Buren, and have been struck with the 
forbearance which the American Government exercised towards 
their weaker foe ; chiefly in consideration of the disturbed state 
of the internal policy of the newly organized and perplexed 
Republic. 

The subjects of complaint were these : — 

Piracies against American citizens. 

Delays in arranging Commercial Treaties. 

Some feelings of distrust on the part of the Mexicans, so long 
ago as 1829, of the then American Minister in Mexico. 

Errors in regard to claims upon Territorial lands. 

Excessive, vexatious, and causeless delays in the arrangement 
of the Boundary Line, and disputes in consequence of these 
delays. 

The seizure of American ships and property in Mexico ; the 
claims having been adjusted by Commissioners; they were made 
payable by instalments, one of which only has been paid. 

All these were points in dispute before the Annexation of the 
Texas, having been commented upon for twenty years at least, 
by successive Presidents. 

From the method of argument, or rather of vituperation, 
against the American Government, pursued by the English 
Journalists, it would seem that they have cither never known, 
or else that they have forgotten, these circumstances. 

The Journals in England crowd their columns on one side 
with histories of the British wars in India, and on the other with 
histories of the American war in Mexico. It may be instructive, 



260 



THE MEXICAN WAR. 



as it is certainly amusing and curious, to compare a few of the 
features which these two wars present in common, — .premising 
only the superior eclat of the Anglo-Asiatic over the Anglo- 
American ideas of conquest : — 



THE MEXICAN WAR 

Has cost the United States 
about a thousand lives. 

Has cost a few millions of 
dollars. 

Has lasted six months. 
The Americans claim the 
adjustment of the Boundary 
Line of their State of Texas 
annexed to their Republic by 
her own desire — and have 
therefore proved just claims 
against the Mexicans. 



The Americans plead guilty 
to the charge of being la7id 
stealers. 

The Mexicans will be im- 
proved by their present alli- 
ance, and by their future Union 
and amalgamation with the 
Americans. Twenty-two years 
ago they banished from the 
soil of Mexico, where it had 
ruled three hundred years, the 
proud Standard of Castillo. 
What has the Republic since 
achieved? Nothing but re- 
volutions. 

The present Administration 
of the United States, wise in 
their Commercial policy, will 



THE INDIAN WAR 

Has cost England millions 
of her people. 

Has cost countless millions 
of pounds sterling. 

Has lasted nearly 100 years. 

The English, for 246 years, 
have been struggling to dis- 
possess the native Hindoo Prin- 
ces of their Territory, and they 
have been eminently successful 
in this meritorious undertaking. 
They have no excuse beyond 
that of the bewitched Mac- 
beth : — 

" I am in blood 
Stepped in so far, that, should I wade 

no more, 
Returning were as tedious as go 
o'er." 

An infirmity very powerfully 
developed in their progenitors 
— like father — like son. 

The Hindoos are exchanged 
from Native Subjection to En- 
glish Government ; that is, 
they become the slaves of their 
conquerors; they are swept 
away and leave no name be- 
hind. Nothing in the future 
can ever make amends to the 
Hindoos for the spoliation they 
have suffered and the indigni- 
ties they have endured. 

No victory, no concession' 
no acquisition has ever pro- 
duced Feace for the victimized 



THE MEXICAN WAR. 



261 



perceive the superior advanta- 
ges of Trade over War^ and 
will make a speedy Peace, 
either by Conquest or by 
Treaty. 



Hindoos. — To them the livins 
tiger of their native desert is 
less appalling than the pictured 
lion of England. It brings no 
peace to them — save that of ex- 
termination. 



Certain it is, therefore, that the English can condemn the 
Americans upon no law of honesty, justice, or mercy, which 
they themselves acknowledge. It is not my desire however to 
excuse this war of the United States against Mexico, because it 
was evidently a war of temper ; an element unworthy to enter/ 
into the policy of any nation, whether great or small. Patience 
and negotiation would, in time, have effected between the United 
States and Mexico, a pacific arrangement of all their differences; 
as patience and negotiation have recently effected pacific arrange- 
ments between America and Great Britain ; witness the case of 
M'Leod — the North East and North Western Boundaries. 

The expenses of the Mexican war will be paid by the Ame- 
ricans with ease ; such burdens lie lightly upon a people who 
are free from permanent and direct taxation, and on whose fields 
the God of Harvests forgets not to scatter the continual 
abundance. 



V 



gift of 



THE END. 



i 



NEW STANDARD WORKS, 

PUBLISHED BY 

CAREY AND HART. 

No. 126 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. 



Burney Papers Completed. 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF MADAME D'ARBLAY. 

Vols. Six and Seven, completing the work. Price $1,00 each. 

" The concluding volume of this Work, just published, possesses even 
more interest than any of the preceding. The work stands at the head 
of this class of English literature. Wholly different from the Diaries 
of Evelyn and Pepys, or the Letters of Walpole and Lady Wortley 
Montague, it possesses in a high degree some of their best qualities." 
— Alias. 

The whole Seven Parts can now be had complete in 2 vols, royal 
8vo, cloth gilt; comprising over 1400 pages, large type, and printed on 
fine white paper. 

N. B. Subscribers are requested to give their orders immediately for 
the completion of their sets, to prevent disappointment. A few copies 
of the 2d volume bound in black cloth, can be had separate to match 
volume 1st, published some time since. 



HOWISON'S VIRGINIA. 

A HISTOEY OF VIRGINIA, 

FROM ITS DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT BY EUROPEANS TO THE 

PRESENT TIME, 

BY R. W. HO WIS ON, 

Volume I. containing the History of the Colony to the Peace of 
Paris, in 1763. 

The object of this work is to present a continuous view of the career 
of Virginia from her discovery and settlement to the present time. It 
is no collection of anecdotes, but a history, compiled upon the best 
evidence and giving references to the authorities on which its state- 
ments have been founded. The volume now presented contams the 
Colonial History, and as such it is complete in itself. 



SPECIMENS OF THE POETS AND POETRY OF GREECE AND ROME- 

By various Translators, 
EDITED BY WILLIAM PETER, 

OF CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD. 

".The stores of Greece and Rome have been ransacked for the best 
of poetry contained therein, and the mind-worjc of the best English 
translators of these beauties selected for the specimens; and we are 
pleased to see that the editor of the work has shown himself worthy of 
his place, by the specimens of his own translations, from both Greek 
and Latin." — U. S. Gazette. 



FROISSART BALLADS, 

AND 

OTHER POEMS. 
BY PHILIP PENDLETON COOKE. 



THE NEW TIMO 

A ROMANCE OF LONDON. 

Second American^ from the third Londoji Edition. 

"We regard this as quite the most remarkable poem of the present 
day, if not of the age. The roll of the very first line stirs the heart 
like a bugle-note at midnight. But the 'Romance' is quite as beau- 
tiful as the poetry, and contains as thrilling a love-story as we could 
wish to read." — iV. Y. Mirror. 



RINGLEBERGIUS ON STUDY. 

THE CELEBRATED TREATISE OF JOACH. FORTIUS RINGLEBERGIUS, 

DE RATIONE STUDII, 

Translated from the edition of VAN ERPE, by G. B. Earp, with 

preface and appendix by W. H. Odenheimer, a. m. 

In one volume 12mo. 



MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF FRANCE, 

BY MRS. FORBES BUSH. 

Dedicated by permission to Her Majesty the Queen of the French, 
and including a memoir of Her Majesty. Vols. 1 and 2 small 8vo., 
bound in scarlet cloth, uniform in size with the " Queens of England." 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




011 782 536 A 



